Guilford County Sheriff B.J. Barnes says he needs more security at the county jail. The most cost-effective and convenient option is more jailers, at a cost of $624,000. Before you say “duh,” the sheriff’s department was considering a “hard-wire observation system,” according to Maj. Deborah Montgomery:
“We can’t install the equipment because we’d have to vacate the floors and we can’t do that. We used to move inmates to High Point for something like this, but we can’t now because of overcrowding and gang problems. We don’t have any options now.”
Workers would have to drill wiring holes into every cell group, Montgomery said.
The big question still is whether or not Barnes will get his new $105 million jail.
