Jan 17

Jan 17 W.E. "Billy" Smith Detention Center forced to transfer inmates to other counties

Staffing shortages at the Lenoir County Jail have led to some inmates being housed in other counties.

Lenoir County Sheriff Ronnie Ingram said one tower of the W. E. “Billy” Smith Detention Center was closed down approximately three weeks ago, and inmates were transferred to facilities in other counties.

The decision to shut down the tower came, Ingram said, due to the difficulty in hiring and retaining qualified officers to work at the jail.

“Other counties around us are paying more, and we will hire two and one will leave, we will hire two more and another will leave. When they can go 30 minutes down the road and earn $5,000 more, it’s hard to keep them here,” Ingram said.

The staffing shortages were putting a strain on the employees as well, Ingram said.

“Every shift we were having to bring in four, five, or even six people to work overtime. We had employees that couldn’t get time off because every shift was short,” Ingram said.

About 35 inmates are being housed elsewhere, with most going to Hoke County west of Fayetteville. The cost to the county is $50 per day per inmate, Ingram said.

Lenoir County Board of Commissioners Chairman Linda Rouse Sutton said the situation was very discouraging for her, but she had known it might be coming.

Sutton said she is looking forward to the results of the compensation study the board commissioned in this fiscal year’s budget to help provide a full picture of areas where salaries and benefits are not matching what other municipalities are offering. That report should be coming in late February or early March, she said.

Lenoir County Commissioner J. Mac Daughtey said the move is very disappointing to him.

“It’s ironic that after spending $20 plus million of taxpayer dollars [to build the new detention facility], we are still having to send people out of county to other jails,” Daughety said.

Part of the difficulty, Daughety said, is that with low unemployment rates, it becomes difficult for local governments to offer salaries that can compete with private sector opportunities. He hopes the county can work to address employee raises in the next budget while ensuring those levels are sustainable.

Sutton said she hopes to be able to address the most critical areas of staffing shortages even before the budgeting process begins in the summer.

Even if the county is able to offer more and attract new employees, it could be some time before things can go back to normal at the detention center, Ingram said.

“We still have to go through the process of finding qualified applicants, doing background checks, getting them hired. It will still take time, but we hope to get there as quickly as we can,” Ingram said.