Bibb jail will spend millions on safety, jobs after deputy’s killing. Here’s the plan
In the wake of a jailer’s stabbing death last week, Bibb County officials on Monday announced plans replace cell doors in a 40-year-old, interior portion of the Macon lockup to thwart inmates’ jimmying of locks as officials look to reassure deputies of their safety on the job.
While the April 6 slaying of sheriff’s deputy Christopher Knight does not appear to be connected to tampered-with locks, the planned measures come as officials said they also are looking to hire part-time jailers to alleviate staffing shortages.
Bibb Sheriff David Davis and Mayor Lester said funding for the roughly $3 million door upgrades had already been included in the coming jail budget but that the hope is to make the money available sooner.
“There is no secret that there’s been some issues with the outdated and antiquated jail locks,” Miller said at a news conference.
“There is no need to wait till budget time,” he added. “We’re not gonna let money get in the way of public safety.”
The sheriff said the Georgia Department of Corrections has also been called on to evaluate operations at the jail to “shore up some of the things” and “as a teaching tool to some of our jail staff.”
Davis said his office is about 100 deputies short of being fully staffed and that some of that shortage, at least in recent days, involves deputies who had worked directly with deputy Knight being on bereavement leave.
The sheriff characterized the cell-door-lock tampering problem as one that can present safety issues “when you have inmates that you think you can lock back and then they’re out wandering around the cellblock.”
The problem doesn’t present an escape risk, he said.
“There are many other layers of locks and doors,” Davis added.
The problem with the cell doors is nothing new in the aging Oglethorpe Steet lockup, which was opened in 1980, but Davis said “it becomes more acute as more inmates figure out how to jimmy the doors, how to create mischief and then it kind of compounds on itself.”