Bibb County Jail Facing Overcrowding Issue, County Leaders Shoot Down Possible Solution

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – There are too many criminals in the Bibb County jail. The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office is trying to fix that problem, but now it’s facing opposition from county leaders.

Currently, the jail can hold 966 inmates, but recently that number has jumped into the thousands. Sheriff Jerry Modena has a solution to the overcrowding problem but the Board of Commissioners shot his idea down.

“We realized we reached a point where the 966 beds were not enough,” Sheriff Modena said.

Sheriff Modena blames the overpopulation problem on the state. He says budget cuts in state prisons and mental facilities have forced the county jail to take in inmates who don’t necessarily need to be there.

“It is suppose to be a holding facility only. [The] only thing I’m suppose to do is hold these people until they go to court,” he said.

But he has a solution. He wants to convert the Virgil Power School off Second Street in downtown Macon into a prison facility. It would house 108 low risk females which would open up more space at the jail for dangerous criminals.

But when the sheriff presented his plan to the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday, they told him they have other plans for that building.

“We have been looking at the possibility that site can be used by the new juvenile justice facility,” Commissioner Bert Bivins said.

Those plans along with the added expenses of converting the building to a prison facility didn’t sit well with the commissioners, especially as we move towards consolidation.

“The consensus kind of was that it might be best to turn it over to the transition team so that they could plan it under the new government,” Bivins said.

But Sheriff Modena says overcrowding is an issue that needs to be taken care of and quickly.

“If we’re able to pull it back to the 966, well halleluiah,” he said. “But at some point its going to move back up over that 966 mark. Its just the nature of the beast.”

The sheriff’s office recently went through a 30 million dollar expansion in 2006 to improve the jail and facilities. Sheriff Modena says the overcrowding issue needs to be fixed, or else over time federal officials can step in and start imposing fines.