On a tour of the Montezuma County jail this week, county leaders learned that the facility isn\u2019t meeting demands.<\/p>\n
Montezuma County commissioners Keenan Ertel, Larry Don Suckla and James Lambert toured the 104-bed facility on Monday, April 27. Commander Vici Pierce explained that the 2001 facility lacks certain needs, including additional housing space for female inmates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe sometimes have up to 30 female inmates at any given time,\u201d said Pierce. \u201cThey all have to share the same pod no matter their risk level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pierce also said the jail could also utilize padded cell space for those inmates that attempt to hurt themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of things I would change,\u201d Pierce said.<\/p>\n
Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin said the facility also needed security updates in the outdoor yard in case the facility had to be evacuated during an emergency such as a fire or flood.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need a safe, secure place to funnel inmates outside,\u201d said Nowlin. \u201cRight now, we would have to take them out to the county fairgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nowlin also requested a part-time building maintenance manager, saying it took three months earlier this year to replace a simple doorstop in the lobby. Nowlin said a maintenance official could help reduce the wait time for more serious repairs, such as leaking toilets or worse, cell doors that don\u2019t lock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a long list of repairs,\u201d Nowlin said. \u201cThe building is more than 10 years old, and things have been neglected way too long.\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally, plans called for a 190-bed jail, but one wing, or pod, of cells was scratched from the design at a savings of about $1 million. When built, the jail was designed to later add inmate pods with relatively ease.<\/p>\n