HOUSTON COUNTY: This week Houston County Sheriff Donald Valenza and Houston County Jail Captain David Asbill are having much-needed repairs done at the Houston County Jail.
The primary repairs are for the locks that the Houston County Commission had neglected to have repaired. That is, until inmates escaped and attacked another inmate, sending the inmate to UAB Hospital via Survival Flight, from injuries received because of the neglect of the Houston County Commission. Finally, the locks are being repaired.
Houston County Sheriff Donald Valenza had requested the Houston County Commission to fund the repairs. He was DENIED, with Chairman Shoupe saying he would rather have roads paved then the locks repaired.
Now that a lawsuit has been filed against Houston County (US – the citizens of Houston County) by Jacoby and Meyers. Alabama State Representative Paul Lee went to work and obtained $1 million in funding to assist in making the jail safe for staff and other inmates.
Sheriff Valenza and Captain Asbill are also updating the camera surveillance system in the Houston County Jail.
The jail, designed and constructed under the Sheriff Lamar Glover administration is designed for 379 inmates. Today, 8:45 AM, the Houston County Jail has 417 inmates.
DO WE NEED A NEW JAIL?
The answer is NO. About 65% of the inmates could be housed in a work camp – barracks style facility with bunk beds, an outer fence, and K-9 attack dogs within a interior fence. That would guarantee no escapes. You have enough lockup space for the inmates who need to be locked in a cell. But that takes getting out of the box and thinking.
