Caldwell Parish Sheriff’s Office acquires LCS/GEO Facility

by joni taylor
The Caldwell Parish Sheriff’s Office has signed a contract to lease the newly vacated LCS/GEO 249 bed facility in Clarks.  The parish has plans to purchase the building with a Capital Outlay Grant later this year.  Sheriff Steve May said “I am glad that LCS/GEO gave us the opportunity to lease the facility until we can buy it.  We will operate both facilities as one.  We will have one warden with an assistant warden and cook out of one kitchen. Once the facility is purchased we will move our inmates from the third floor at the courthouse to that location.”
Sheriff May said they had already hired some of the employees that were laid off from the recent closing of the facility.  As they get more inmates they will hire more laid off employees. The parish will save money by bringing female employees back from centers in other parishes. Last year the parish spent approximately $70,000.00 housing them elsewhere. The parish will save about $21.00 a day housing the females in their own facility. The building has a 34 bed section to house the female inmates.  
With over 200 beds available for male inmates the facility will be able to take in the overflow from other areas. Twenty inmates were transferred to the building in the last week. Moving the inmates from the third floor of the courthouse will have substantial benefits as well.  The third floor facility is old and in need of repairs.  There have been problems with inmates causing overflows of water and sewage that caused damage to the ceilings and offices on the second floor.

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