MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The Macon-Bibb County Board of Commissioners unanimously passed an ordinance Tuesday to reallocate $2 million from the Sheriff’s Commissary Fund to continue jail improvements, including the installation of advanced magnetic locks and essential repairs.
During Tuesday’s pre-commission meeting, Macon-Bibb Mayor Lester Miller said half of the funds would be used for updating locks that haven’t been replaced yet. He said the rest will go toward contract services such as plumbing and electrical fixes.
“This $2 million is already in his account,” Mayor Miller said. “This is just moving money to satisfy expenditures.”
The magnetic locks, which have been introduced in phases over recent years, will replace mechanisms in the older part of the jail that are prone to wear and damage.
“These new locks, with the magnet, when that door is closed, it is closed and it is secure and stable,” Sheriff David Davis told commissioners. “When the jail was built, it was built with what was the technology of the day,” he added later.
Commissioner Virgil Watkins was curious about the total costs of updating the facility to current standards, but that figure has not yet been calculated, according to Mayor Miller.
In response to Commissioner Brendalynn Bailey’s concerns regarding emergency procedures, Sheriff Davis said emergency protocols are in place that allow for all of the magnetic locks to be opened at once if necessary.
Funding for these upgrades comes from the commissary fund, which is made up of revenue generated by inmates.
“It’s money that they spend for goods that they buy in the jail store, some of the phone revenue, some of the other funds that we get, that we earmark for the inmates,” Sheriff Davis said. “So really we’re using the money that they raise to help fix where they live.”
In October 2023, 15 days after four inmates escaped from the older part of the jail, Sheriff Davis wrote a letter to the mayor and commissioners urging them to prioritize building a new jail.
Weeks later, commissioners approved the transfer of $1 million from the commissary fund for other repairs.
