Mold, leaks plague 51-year-old courthouse jail

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Mold, leaks plague 51-year-old courthouse jail

August 10, 2006

Shreveport Times - Shreveport,LA

By Vickie Welborn

vwelborn@...

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20060810/NEWS01/608100339/1002/NEWS

ARCADIA -- Mold that appears to be clinging to an air conditioner

vent in a secretary's office. Leaks that have ruined walls, ceiling

tiles, carpet and flooded an evidence vault.

It's all become too frustrating to Bienville Parish Sheriff

Ballance who on Wednesday received a glimmer of hope from Bienville

Parish police jurors in the form of an agreement to explore the

construction of a new, larger detention center.

Doing so would abandon a jail expansion project that has been

discussed for years but ditched recently when a request for state

funding assistance did not happen.

" It's unpleasant to have shower water (from the upstairs jail)

leaking on the floor in our office, " said Ballance.

Police jurors unanimously approved a suggestion from

Secretary/Treasurer Rodney Warren and a motion from Police Juror

Mike McCarthy to ask one of the area's legislators to submit

legislation next year that would create a commission that would

stand alone from the parish governing body and the Law Enforcement

District. The commission would have taxing authority and could

explore funding sources through either revenue bonds or taxes to

construct a detention center.

It's been done in other parishes, Warren said. " This would put the

burden on the commission and they could regulate the jail and take

if off of the jury. "

McCarthy called it a good idea and pointed to the money that the

parish is spending each year by housing inmates in other parish

jails.

Ballance has been in discussions with the Police Jury for several

years about the need for more jail space. The current facility on

the second floor of the Bienville Parish Courthouse holds 55

prisoners. But on any given day, approximately 20 of the parish's

inmates will be incarcerated in the Claiborne Parish Detention

Center and 15 to 20 in Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center in Webster

Parish. Women and juvenile prisoners also are incarcerated in

neighboring parishes.

The annual price tag to farm out inmates to other jurisdictions tops

$200,000 annually, and two years ago edged over $460,000, Warren

said. Since July, $155,000 has been spent on prison care and jail

expenses, which includes transportation costs and maintenance.

That's a big chunk of the Police Jury's $6 million annual budget.

The Police Jury had proposed expanding the jail and some office

space on the west side of the courthouse. While Ballance was for

that idea at the time, he's now convinced it would be a waste of

money to keep patching the maintenance problems that are plaguing

the jail.

Leaks from showers and overflowing toilets in the 51-year-old jail

often pool in a subfloor or creep down walls to the sheriff's

offices below. Ballance became more alarmed a few weeks ago when a

repairman who was working above the ceiling said black mold filled

the cavity.

Margie Talbert, Ballance's secretary, wonders if the stuff above her

head is the cause of a recent bout with pneumonia and other

ailments. Several radio operators also have battled pneumonia and

sickness, Ballance said.

Ceilings have completely collapsed in the vault in the sheriff's tax

office and in a room used by probation officers. A vault in

Balance's office where duty ammunition, seized weapons and a

smattering of other items are stored has been flooded.

Civil Deputy Stan Beard had a small oscillating fan going full blast

in a corner of his office Wednesday to dry out a big swath of damp

carpet. Globs of bubbled paint on the adjacent wall showed signs of

prolonged moisture.

" It's coming in faster than it's drying, " Beard said of the water

trickling down from a condensation hose on the roof.

Warren said the problems are tackled as soon as they are reported,

but he acknowledged that the leaks have been troublesome to stop in

recent years.

" Moisture could be causing the mold, but we're going to get that

fixed, " he added.

Ballance called it a " Band-Aid approach that's not working. "

Warren got a commitment from state Rep. Jim Fannin after Wednesday's

Police Jury meeting to author a bill creating the Bienville Parish

Detention Center Commission. He anticipates talks will get under way

in the coming weeks with Ballance, Police Jury President Ben Wiggins

and others on the makeup of the commission, which then could get a

head start on coming up with a design and funding options for the

new detention center.

Ballance already has his sights set on a location at the pistol

range three miles out of Arcadia on state Highway 9. It would

provide adequate room -- the parish owns 450 acres there -- and it

would provide the security for the public and prisoners that the

current courthouse jail does not.