About half of the security camera installation in the Clark County Jail has not been completed.
The Kentucky Department of Corrections, which inspects jails at least twice a year, complained in November 2010 that the jail didn’t have security cameras, said County Judge-Executive Henry Branham Tuesday after the Fiscal Court meeting where the issue was brought up.
He said the department didn’t give the county a set time period for completion at a meeting in November 2010, but the county aims to complete the camera installation by the end of August.
At a Fiscal Court meeting Tuesday, Deputy Judge-Executive Liz Elswick said the county had lost contact with the company doing the installations, Burdine Security Group Inc. of Lexington.
After the meeting, Branham said that a little more than half of the camera equipment has been installed in cell block hallways, on the roof, in the kitchen and in the booking area, but the cameras needed for inside the cells have not been installed. He said the jail has had problems with workers showing up.
“It may come to the point that we’ll have to get another cell block vendor,” he said.
Will Burdine, manager of Burdine Security Group Inc., said he didn’t know when the job would be finished, but workers would be at the jail Friday.
“There was a supply shortage that was remedied,” he said, adding that a specific kind of camera for inside the cells is needed.
The court also addressed issues of jail staff hiring, and Branham said the hiring turnover rate is the highest he’s seen in a while. He also said there are so many female hires because a low number of female workers was another complaint of the Department of Corrections.
County Jailer Bobby Stone said keeping workers is hard, and that the “saddest thing about it is” by the time employees are fully trained, “they go somewhere else.”
Contact Katie Perkowski at kperkowski@winchestersun.com or follow her Twitter, @TheSunKatie.
The Kentucky Department of Corrections, which inspects jails at least twice a year, complained in November 2010 that the jail didn’t have security cameras, said County Judge-Executive Henry Branham Tuesday after the Fiscal Court meeting where the issue was brought up.
He said the department didn’t give the county a set time period for completion at a meeting in November 2010, but the county aims to complete the camera installation by the end of August.
At a Fiscal Court meeting Tuesday, Deputy Judge-Executive Liz Elswick said the county had lost contact with the company doing the installations, Burdine Security Group Inc. of Lexington.
After the meeting, Branham said that a little more than half of the camera equipment has been installed in cell block hallways, on the roof, in the kitchen and in the booking area, but the cameras needed for inside the cells have not been installed. He said the jail has had problems with workers showing up.
“It may come to the point that we’ll have to get another cell block vendor,” he said.
Will Burdine, manager of Burdine Security Group Inc., said he didn’t know when the job would be finished, but workers would be at the jail Friday.
“There was a supply shortage that was remedied,” he said, adding that a specific kind of camera for inside the cells is needed.
The court also addressed issues of jail staff hiring, and Branham said the hiring turnover rate is the highest he’s seen in a while. He also said there are so many female hires because a low number of female workers was another complaint of the Department of Corrections.
County Jailer Bobby Stone said keeping workers is hard, and that the “saddest thing about it is” by the time employees are fully trained, “they go somewhere else.”
Contact Katie Perkowski at kperkowski@winchestersun.com or follow her Twitter, @TheSunKatie.
