Sheriff, Wilson spar over housing felons

Bedford County Sheriff Randall Boyce disagreed Tuesday night with County Commission member J.D. "Bo" Wilson over whether the county had a choice about keeping state felons in the local jail.

Bedford County does not have a contract with the state for accepting state felons, and so the state cannot and does not send the local felons from elsewhere. But there are some locally-sentenced felons who are kept in the jail, with the state paying the county a certain amount to keep them.

County officials have disagreed in recent years over whether those state felons are a good deal or a bad one from a financial standpoint. Jail and sheriff's department officials have generally said that the felons help pay for the jail's operation, but last summer a County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS) consultant, Jim Hart, told the commission's courthouse and county property committee that the county loses money on each state felon it keeps.

Whether the felons are a good deal or a bad deal financially, they tie in to a jail capacity problem.

Wilson said during a Tuesday night meeting of the commission's law enforcement and workhouse committee that another CTAS official, Doug Bodary, had told him the county was not required to house even the locally-sentenced state prisoners and could simply ask local judges to sentence them directly to state custody.

Boyce said that was incorrect and that the county can only send such felons to the state when the state has space and agrees to take them.

"Every time they call and say they have beds, we send them prisoners," said Boyce.

County officials have talked about building a new jail and justice center, but the county is currently near the limit of its borrowing capacity and no affordable solution has presented itself so far.

* In other discussion during the law enforcement meeting, Boyce praised the volunteer work of off-duty deputies and members of Shelbyville & Bedford County Humane Association in dealing with a case of alleged animal abuse on a cattle farm on Clyde Gleaves Road. Boyce said Bedford County Farm Bureau has supported the effort as well, including financial support.

Truckloads of carcasses have been hauled away from the site, and Boyce said the surviving cattle at the site are skittish and have been difficult to work with.

* Plans were also discussed for disposal of seized property. The sheriff's department makes an effort to identify recovered property which is believed to have been stolen, and even contacts law enforcement in surrounding counties to see if it matches the description of property stolen elsewhere. But some property remains unclaimed. Some items, such as a trailer, may be kept and used by county agencies, the other items will be sold.