06/09/16   Cleveland County Considering New Jail To Relieve Overcrowding

At the Cleveland County Quorum Court meeting on Monday night, Cleveland County Judge Gary Spears assigned a five-person committee to investigate the county's options after Sheriff Jack Rogers reported he's running out of room at the jail and a state review of the jail found the jail is inadequately staffed.

In an interview with the Cleveland County Herald, Judge Gary Spears says if the JP's ultimately decide to pursue construction of a new jail, he'd prefer putting the proposal before the voters in the November general election and eliminating the cost of a special election.

Judge Spear says regardless of the county's ultimate decision on the matter, the county is looking at spending at least $100,000.00 or more per year to address some of the deficiencies cited by the state.

The last time the county asked for a sales tax supporting the jail was in May of 2008. The county put two separate questions before the voters, a three quarters cent sales tax to support the construction of a new jail and a three fourths cent to support jail operations. Both were defeated by a 52 to 48 percent margin.