State OK delayed process; county hopes outside inmates help pay jail costs

By LOHR McKINSTRY

ELIZABETHTOWN -- After seven months of operation, the new Essex County Jail has finally been allowed to take outside inmates.

Sheriff Henry Hommes said this week that the 120-bed jail that opened in October 2007 now has five inmates from St. Lawrence County.

St. Lawrence County is considering construction of a new jail to replace the overcrowded facility it has now. In the meantime, the county is sending some of its prisoners to Essex County and paying a daily rate for boarding.

The holdup on accepting outside prisoners in Essex County was the State Commission of Correction, which regulates local correctional facilities.

"We did get permission to board a small number of outside inmates," Hommes said. "They (the commission) want to see how that goes."

He said the new Essex County Jail in Lewis has 28 inmates now, including the boarders. The jail had a high of 37 prisoners in April, he said.

The commission is letting them take a limited number of outside inmates now, Hommes said, and monitoring how that works.

"We are permitted 10 (outside inmates); we have five right now. That will be going up."

Essex County is hoping some of the cost of building its new $35 million jail will be offset by revenue from other counties sending their overflow prisoners.

The County Board of Supervisors has debated what to do with its 1878 jail, since it now sits empty in Elizabethtown. The County Space Committee had recommended tearing it down, and the county was preparing to get demolition bids, but has now decided to wait.

"I have been approached by people asking why are we taking that building down," Supervisor Lori Lincoln-Spooner (R-Willsboro) said. "I have never been in it. I would like to see it."

Supervisor Noel Merrihew III (R-Elizabethtown) said Hommes will give a tour.

"We have that (demolition) on hold anyway," Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava (R-Moriah) said. "We don't have any plans to demolish it now."