RICHLAND COUNTY, S.C. — Richland County council and detention center leaders met Tuesday evening in an ad hoc committee meeting to discuss the jail's current status.
"We all inherited a mess and it's starting to look like something that we can all be proud of," said Gretchen Barron, District 7 councilwoman.
During the hour-long ad hoc committee meeting about Alvin S. Glenn, nearly every council member attended, and chimed in with questions or comments.
"What is this date as of? I've tried to find a date on here," said Don Weaver, District 6 councilman.
"Would you say that this is representative data in terms of the general population and also specifically the general amount of time that some of these detainees have been in custody?," said Chakisse Newton, District 11 councilwoman.
According to a presentation by county administrator Leonardo Brown, infrastructure is improving at the jail, but when asked if there's an adequate number of current staff, Brown said, "I feel like we could always use more staff because the more staff that you have, generally the more relief you can have."
In the meeting, Brown highlighted three components of the jail: the kitchen, the 18 housing units and staffing.
The kitchen, which the county said got new plumbing, paint, flooring and cooking equipment, was completed over a year ago, and Brown said it has had an "A grade" by DHEC for the last six months.
Brown said when it comes to the 18 housing units, there are only two units left that need new locks installed.
And as for staffing, Brown showed a data graph, explaining that the jail actually fired more staff than they hired in the first quarter of this year, but since then, there have been fewer staff members being fired.
Still to come is a facility wide security system upgrade, changes to the visitation area, roof replacements and renovating the intake area.
According to the presentation from Brown, as of two months ago, the jail has 1057 detainees and 412 of them have been awaiting trial for over six months.
Richland County plans to host a job fair at the county jail on October 25, 2024 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.