Bibb County Sheriff’s Office provides jail update following grand jury report

The Bibb County Sheriff's Office provided an update on where jail repairs stand following a Grand Jury inspection last year.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT )— It’s been more than a year since a grand jury report found that the Bibb County jail needed repairs and that possibly a whole new jail needed to be built.

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office says it has been working on those repairs, and there’s still some work to do.

Chief Deputy Michael Scarbary says the main issue the report raised is fixing cell doors and locks.

He says about 50% f the work is completed, and the rest is expected to be finished by June.

“It requires door locks, and we have a mechanism that keeps the inmates from manipulating the doors, so that took a little while and is a little feature we added to it, which is working good,” he said.

Another issue in the report was air flow. Chief Deputy Scarbary says that problem hasn’t been handled just yet.

“We’re waiting on a grant also that will be included with the rest of the money that we’re about to receive,” he said. “So once we receive that, we’ll be addressing all that.”

Gwenette Westbrooks, the Macon-Bibb NAACP Chapter President, says she toured the jail in August after receiving complaints from inmates or their family members. Since then, Westbrooks says the organization has received more complaints. She says her main concern is safety.

“There are still some concerns with the conditions of the jail that the inmates are expressing either through family members or normally they’re sending letters to our office,” she said.

According to Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney Anita Howard, an inspection is made every year.

She says they’re waiting for Sheriff David Davis to recover from his battle with cancer before they do the inspection.

“We are not behind in that,” she said. “We are going to have that scheduled, and they will go in and inspect the jail, and they will provide a report that will be given to the county commissioners and published for the public.”

The Macon-Bibb NAACP says it plans to meet with the sheriff’s office and the state’s NAACP to address concerns about the jail that have been brought to them.