Exposed wires represent a serious safety hazard at the jail.

Jail administrator Theresa Qualls stood in the middle of a Franklin County Jail shower pod, shaking her head. A hole is gaping in one wall where a urinal was ripped out. One of the shower heads is no longer operational.

“It’s ridiculous,” Qualls said. “I’m just trying to fix it all … I’m going to fix it the best I can and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver brought the jail maintenance request to the the Franklin County Commission work session March 14, explaining the repairs needed in all four shower pods at the jail.

“They put sheetrock in the showers,” Oliver said. “I don’t understand that. But they put sheetrock in the showers and put the electrical conduit in it. Over a period of time, the sheetrock has fallen, and the electric wires are exposed. It’s a mess.”

Between the combination of natural wear-and-tear damage over time – the impact to sheetrock of a shower’s natural humidity – and damage caused by inmates, Oliver said the showers are in dire shape. Some areas of sheetrock have molded. Lights have been ripped from the ceiling, tearing out easily from the weakened sheetrock. And far from being about aesthetics, “it’s become a safety hazard now because of the exposed wires,” Oliver said.

At the March 21 county commission meeting, the county approved maintenance totaling $14,725 for the needed repairs.

“This has been an ongoing thing,” said Chief Deputy Delane Clark. “You have so many (inmates) in and out, you can’t really pinpoint who (is doing the damage).”

Clark and Qualls said once the repairs are completed, there is a plan to put a greater emphasis on facility inspections – and inmates caught vandalizing the jail will be charged.