Future of former Hamilton County Jail discussed by commissioners

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- Hamilton County Commissioners held a monthly committee session on Building and Economic Development this morning.

In the course of that meeting, they discussed ideas for some long underused properties including the former site of the Hamilton County Jail right behind me.

Currently, the Hamilton County Jail, formerly known as Silverdale, is the only detention facility that currently houses inmates in Hamilton County.

For all current court appearances, inmates have to be transported across the city, posing potential safety risks.

The old jail sits right across the street from the Hamilton County Courts Building, connected by underground tunnels.

Commission Chairman Jeff Eversole asked, “Is that where we need to, potentially, the county look at that and maybe make that a high security lockup, so we’re not having to transport high security prisoners from the Hamilton County Detention Center all the way downtown?”

While several of the other commissioners agreed that repurposing the jail is a good idea, there is a lot of work to refurbish it as the interior is described as being in disrepair.

Commissioner Lee Helton said, “When they say it’s condemned, it’s condemned because it had a water leak and had a mold issue so it’s, the building itself is in a good structure.”

Chairman Eversole added, “The thing about it is, if we get, and these are just hypothetical numbers, a new building is $120 million, and that building is $100 million and ten years down the road, it helps us save somebody’s life, it’s all worth it.”

Additionally discussed was potentially some legal offices and courts into the building.

Commissioners say they intend to do something with that property.

Commissioner Greg Beck recalled that as a Commission, “We talked about selling it one time, we talked about refurbishing it.’

Commissioner Helton said, “I would never want to dispose of that asset. I think that’s something we need to retain.”

These are just preliminary discussions and that there are no formal resolutions pending on any of these facilities at this time.