County asks for jail property
Published 10:27 am Thursday, April 28, 2016
While the N.C. Legislature is in session, members will decide whether to give the Davie Detention Center property to Davie County.
County commissioners last week unanimously adopted a resolution asking that the state give the 23.62 acres outside of Mocksville to the county. It once housed a state prison.
A similar donation had been done for Bladen County, said County Manager Mike Ruffin. The county has a lease on the property through 2018.
Davie’s detention center is quickly reaching capacity. If an expansion becomes necessary, the county can get better interest rates if it owns the property, Ruffin said.
“At some point, we’re going to have to look at some kind of expansion,” he said. “We may be forced to do it.”
In the meantime, county officials met with the district attorney to see if cases can be tried more quickly, and to see of court-appointed attorneys can see those clients more promptly. One suspect has been in the jail for more than a year awaiting trial.
The county, in the upcoming budget, is proposing spending more money on electronic monitoring devices that would allow certain suspects to remain in their homes awaiting trial.
The detention center can house 72 at one time, and has reached that capacity from time to time. It costs the county about $80 a day to house someone in the facility.