Morristown, TN (WOKI) Hamblen County is getting ready to open their new jail this summer.
At the current Hamblen County Jail, Sheriff Chad Mullins says they’ve dealt with overcrowding issues for years.
At times, they’ll have as many as 400 inmates at a building that only holds about 250 beds so fighting happens every day with six to eight people in a cell.
The new jail next door will be much larger with at least 600 beds, with two-man cells.
The jail, which cost $100 million dollars to build, was supposed to be ready last October but they had some issues and delays with construction.
Now, officials say, the jail is expected to open this August.
The Sheriff says they need 30 new people and the Hamblen County Commission passed a first reading last week that would give sheriff’s office employees and jail staff a 10% raise, bringing their hourly pay to around $20 an hour.
That raise is not final and will have to pass a second reading later this month.
