Clarke County Sheriff John Q. Williams has long advocated for increased funding from the Commission to combat chronic understaffing. This year, Sheriff Williams reported that though staffing levels have improved, infrastructure has not been kept up.
The average daily population in the Clarke County Jail is expected to reach over 580 people in the next fiscal year, according to the Mayor’s recommended budget. Sheriff John Q Williams requested extra dollars from the Athens-Clarke County Commission last Thursday during a meeting.
Sheriff Williams said that funding should keep up with the increased expected inmate population, especially since many inmates need medical care.
“As a sheriff we have to take care of people," Sheriff Williams said. "My folks do a great job with what we have, but we do need more.”
Sheriff Williams asked for a $2 million upgrade to jail security technology, which he said would help his understaffed workforce.
“At some point we’re going to have a critical failure in that jail and we are not going to be able to use computers to open and close doors, to monitor cameras, when we have incidents in the jail, we will not have recordings of them,” Sheriff Williams explained.
The Mayor’s recommended budget sets aside nearly $26 million for the Sheriff’s office. The Commission will vote on a budget in June.
