The Chattanooga News Free Press is reporting that Chattooga County leaders are meeting with members of the Georgia Department of Corrections to discuss the possibility of a new jail site.

The county jail can currently only house around 50 inmates, forcing the county to house a number of inmates in other facilities.

According to that article between October 8th and 14^th on average 23 inmates were housed in Polk County, and 31 in Bartow County – costing Chattooga County roughly $2,200 a day during that time.

Sheriff Mark Schrader and Commissioner Jason Winters recently spoke with Department of Corrections Commissioner Homer Bryson and during that meeting they enquired about the possibility of the state giving the county control of an abandoned crime lab once used by Hays State Prison.

Scharder stated it would be a good location for a new sheriff’s administrative office should the county build a new jail; Commissioner Winters stressed that the conversation with the Department of Corrections doesn’t mean the county is going to construct a new jail, adding that he simply wanted to know if the location would be available should that actually occur somewhere down the road.

Winters went on to say the county is a long way from that, and from a financial standpoint, building a jail is not a good idea; he also stated that (quote) “it’s something that, when we have to do it, we’ll do it; but we want to walk toward this very carefully and make sure it’s the right decision.” (end-quote).

According to the Free Press, Commissioner Winters and Sheriff Schrader have yet to hear anything further from the Department of Corrections since that meeting some two weeks ago.

(Chattanooga Times Free Press)