Ross Sheriff Says County Jail’s Future Needs Addressed

Presented By Atomic Speedway

The Litter Media cameras were recently allowed to take a behind the scene look at the current renovation of the Ross County Jail. The tour shows the challenges the county is facing to make some improvements, which the sheriff says will not solve the biggest problems the sheriff is having to maintain an adequate occupancy facility to house inmates.

The current law complex in downtown Chillicothe was constructed in the late 1980’s, but according to Sheriff George Lavender, the current jail needs to be replaced. The existing facility is intended to have a maximum inmate occupancy of 101 people, but has held as many as 224, according to Lavender. 

“We have outgrown this facility and need to study the possibility of constructing a new facility”, according to Sheriff Lavender.  

Sheriff Lavender says prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic, a local committee was formed to start looking at other options for another facility, since they have outgrown the current jail. 

Among the reasons for the occupancy problems at the Ross County Jail is when the state stopped sending many of the Felony 4 and Felony 5 offenders to state prisons and required counties to house them. 

Sheriff Major William White says this led to overcrowding and security issues. White says longer serving inmates are often more violent offenders who are also more destructive- tearing up cells and trying to find ways to escape or create ways to gain access to illegal contraband that could be smuggled into the jail.

The Ross County Jail is currently undergoing a renovation of $4 million to $5 million, which the sheriff says is a temporary security improvement at best, and doesn’t do enough to increase occupancy needs.

Ohio counties are scrambling to get a piece of the $50 million fund from Senate Bill 310, which provides limited grants for further renovation of jails- on top of what’s already being done in Ross County. The deadline to apply for the funds is June, but it’s feared that many of the larger counties will be among the first on the list to receive these dollars.