New county jail dedicated, toured

Inmates expected to be transferred to new facility in “next few weeks”
 
The opening of the new Greene County Sheriff’s Office and Jail were celebrated with a special Masonic ceremony in which the building’s cornerstone was dedicated on Friday, May 13. After the dedication, the cornerstone was placed in the new facility’s northeast corner.

New building, new era for sheriff’s office
Jim Arnott, Greene County sheriff, said the opening of the new building “absolutely” marks a new era for the Greene County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO).
“It's been well over 40 years since we've been in one building, and so this is just an awesome opportunity for us to all be under one roof working together,” he said. “I'll be able to see my staff instead of having to travel to different buildings to meet up with them.”
Arnott also said that, unlike the current jail, the new location will allow the GCSO to add to the facility if needed.
“This gives us room for expansion,” he said. “Obviously, we were overcrowded at our last facility. Now, we have 1,242 beds, so we're able to expand prisoner-wise. And then, in the future, if we ever have to expand, we can actually build out. We have enough property here to do that.”

Many services will be provided at intake area
One part of the building many people visited was the jail’s intake area. The intake area is divided into two spaces, one for men and one for women. A raised platform, housing a workstation for jail staff, separates the two spaces.
Each holding cell contains seating where inmates will remain while they go through the booking process, holding cells where less-cooperative inmates will be kept until they are booked, phones which inmates can use to make collect calls and a flat-screen television set which displays the jail’s rules and other information they need. There is also a room where incoming inmates will be photographed, and a medical station where they will be assessed to see if they need any medical attention.
In each area, there is also a special showering room for inmates who need to be cleaned but refuse to shower willingly. In this room, water is sprayed from every angle, making it impossible for inmates who won’t cooperate to avoid being showered. Lt. Tom Canter, of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, said the room would be used in the case of uncooperative inmates who come in covered with excrement that creates a biohazard for others.
“We want people to be safe,” he said, “and if …  they could contaminate someone else with bodily fluids, and they're not cooperative, we’ll rinse them off.”

Jail’s medical staff will provide inmates with needed care
Another key area in the jail is the medical wing, where the jail’s medical staff will provide inmates with any care they need. Brook Donaldson, director of nursing, described the medical care her staff administers.
“Everyone that comes in, she said, “they'll see us at one point in time for their intake … for their negative or positive (medical evaluation). We help anyone who comes in that's withdrawing from illegal substances, who drink alcohol daily, any medical complaint that they would have; anything from headaches to chest pain. We have dental offices, so our dentist comes once to twice a week, and we will refer them to the dentist, if needed. Anyone who comes in with wounds, we dress their wounds. We have treatment pass twice a day, so any of that type of thing. We have physicians who are able to place sutures when needed, and we remove those sutures as needed. We have chronic care, so anytime they come in with medications, with hypertension, with HIV; all of those things. Our chronic care nurse will manage their meds and do blood draws and make sure that their medications are working for them.”
Donaldson also said the medical staff plays an essential role in the jail’s intake process.
“They’ll come in and be asked a series of medical questions, (like) ‘Do you take meds daily?’ ‘Do you drink daily?’ Just basically everything, and we will triage those,” she said. “If they answer ‘No’ to all of those questions, we'll see them within the first 14 days while being incarcerated. If they say ‘Yes’ to any of those … they’ll be a positive, and we have to see them within the first 24 hours, and then we'll get the proper withdrawal protocol medication started. Or any meds they come in on, we’ll get those started as well and address any medical concerns that they had at that time.”

Visitors get to tour facility
Following the ceremony, guests were invited to walk around the new facility. Greene County deputy sheriffs and other staff members were on hand to give directions and answer any questions that the guests might have.
One of the visitors, Amberlyn Simmons, of Ozark said she came to see the jail because a relative of hers works as a corrections officer.
“My father-in-law has spent his entire career in corrections,” she said,” so I wanted to be able to see the inside similar to his day-to-day life.”
Katie Jackson, of Marshfield said she came to tour the jail because it would be her only opportunity to see it before it became operational.
“I'm just intrigued by what our new jail looks like and is,” she said. “We hope to never have to be in here, so this is our one chance we have to see it.”
Jackson also said she was particularly intrigued by the shower room in the intake area.
“(I think it’s) terrifying,” she said, “but also very interesting that it actually exists, and that it's a thing, and … I never want to end up in it. I do want to see it in use, though. I’m not going to lie.”
Drake Lester, 9, came to tour the building with his mother, who works at the Greene County Sheriff’s Office. He said he was impressed with the building’s size and the level of security it had. He also said he would like to come and work there someday “not as a sheriff, but maybe as a worker.”
For his part, Arnott said he was “proud” to see the new building completed.
“It's amazing how everything has come together,” he said, “and how the citizens passed the tax and wanted to see us build this. And we did, and so we're proud that we could deliver it.”