CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — You have to go behind the walls to see the hazardous conditions inmates and deputies deal with every day.
Eight honeycomb-looking units house nearly 3,200 inmates at the Clayton County Jail. A day after a runoff win, Sheriff Levon Allen spent several hours with 11Alive, walking through the problem areas, proposed fixes, and budget concerns.
It wasn't our first walkthrough. We got a look inside last fall when inmates were reportedly tearing apart their units and turning those scraps into weapons. A mother's concern for her son made us come back months later.
"He's been there 7 days and it's hell. Right now, he has a toothache, and he's not getting any medical attention. He said the lights are not on in that cell, and the commode is bad," Maydiee Sermons said as she waited for her son outside the jail.
The 44-year-old was arrested after a bench warrant was served in his traffic violations case.
"The conditions in the jails, do they care? Who's responsible for that? Are they doing their job? They're getting paid. They go home every night to their family, and they're satisfied, but our loved ones are suffering," Sermons said.
Other families with loved ones inside the jail voice these same concerns. Sheriff Allen says he takes their calls and tells them he hears their concerns and wants things fixed, too.
"They say, 'Sheriff, my son's in the room and the lights of whatever don't work, or whatever don't work, and if you don't fix it, I'm going to the news.' I say, 'Mama, please call the news because I want it fixed just like you want to fix it, and maybe bringing the attention to it will get the Board of Commissioners to move forward and do things,'" Allen said.
Months after our first walk-through, Sheriff Allen was transparent, saying nothing major has changed, but what county maintenance has agreed to fix in the decades-old building is taking too long to do.
"When you walk through now, you're going to see a jail that's relatively clean; it's tolerable. You're going to see it's going to be peaceful as much as it can be to the to the naked eye. You're not going to; it's not going to alarm you about anything that you're going to see. What's happening in the jail is behind the walls or under the walls. That is, what is the issue," Allen said.
As we walked through, Sheriff Allen and his deputies took us to office areas, the jail intake area, showers, and the units where inmates are housed. The inmates know him well and aren't afraid to voice their concerns about the leaks and broken pipes, toilets, and showers. Some expressed the need for better education options, working lights, and TVs.
"I either come down here myself to see it or to fix it, or I get on the phone and make calls to fix it because things should not take that long to get done. It's just simply ridiculous," Allen said.
He and his deputies wrote down their concerns, promising to follow up. We saw water puddles covering the floor where inmates are housed, leaking or broken pipes, toilets and showers, and rust and mold on the walls.
"It's disheartening because there are human lives here. My deputies are here. If you don't go home and live like this, you shouldn't require someone else to do it," Allen said.
That's why the sheriff says he's asked the county commission for hundreds of thousands of dollars in increments to make fixes to units inside and security at the jail. When the county overestimated his budget twice, he had to go back to the council and ask for more than $14 million, then another $1.6.
"The $14 million that was just approved, and he (Former County Commission Chair Jeff Turner) knows this, had nothing to do with any improvements of the jail. That was dealing with personnel, medical contracts and food contracts," Allen said.
When explaining why the budget for the fixes is large and expensive, Allen says it has to do with inflation, the cost of materials needed, and a decades-old plumbing system that, in his opinion, needs to be redone and modernized.
"This building itself was constructed for, I believe, upwards of $100 million for the entire Justice complex, the courts, the jail, and the sheriff's office. Now, having one pod that can house about 400 inmates or detainees will cost $300 million. We could have had three of these back in the day. Everything has to be put into perspective regarding the large dollar amount being asked, but is it? I don't make the prices. I'm just telling you this is what it costs," Allen said.
Overall, the Sheriff says there has been a communication disconnect between the office and the County Commission, but after the most recent runoff wins, he's hopeful that will change.
"Now with me and Dr. Alieka Anderson, we're going to develop the type of relationship where that's not the issue. Everything she does, I may not agree with. Everything I do, she may not agree with. But at the end of the day, we're going to work together to make sure that the citizens and the people are really getting an effective job with both leaders," Allen said.
Sheriff Allen's three main issues at the jail that he wants to tackle are getting all or at least 50% of the locks fixed, overcrowding after 400-500 inmates find themselves sleeping on the floor, and staffing.
"So we're about 50 positions short. I want to be very clear, I say this a lot, we are fully staffed, but not properly staffed," Allen said.
He says it's because the jail isn't properly staffed for the number of inmates it is taking in. Positions need to be shifted, and new detention deputies are needed. Allen wants that addressed by July 1. 11Alive will follow up to see what's fixed moving forward.