Debb Rea of the Hall County Corrections Department. She leads a team put in place to help staff make the transition if a new jail is built. Corrections Director Joel Dalton said the county is a long way from moving dirt for a new jail, but the fact that the county authorized a study to look at the need is a major step. That knowledge is particularly important considering that linear jail design, which the county has now, is virtually extinct. Since May, corrections staff have been visiting jails, most of which operate under direct supervision.
Direct supervision puts the jailer in with the inmates.
He said it's effective because it changes the psychology of the cell. He said there have been no known incidents of jail takeovers or injured officers in the United States in a direct-supervision jail. Inmates in one large cell are easier to watch, he said. That means less damage to the jail. Dalton said broken windows, televisions and intentionally plugged plumbing are commonplace in the county's linear jail because inmates can't be watched all the time.