Bibb County Sheriff: ‘Some people really need to be in jail’

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – On June 10

, Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller announced new initiatives to improve conditions inside the Bibb County jail.

Mayor Miller stated a 30-day audit will identify 150 inmates at the jail who’ve been charged with nonviolent offenses, and deemed not to be a threat to public safety.  Sheriff David Davis stressed the release of 150 inmates is a complex task.

“It’s going to take a little time to look through all of the inmates. There’s almost a thousand inmates in the jail to look at those, look at each of their charges and their eligibility for participation in this program,” said Sheriff Davis.

He says the Macon Judicial Circuit District Attorney and the court system decides who can and be eligible for the Mayor’s new program.

“Some people really need to be in jail. Some people really need to be incarcerated so that they’re not a harm to the larger community,” the Sheriff emphasized. “So we need to always keep that in mind as we go through these programs to release folks from jail. If somebody would give me a release or I’d release every inmate we have in the jail, what would that do to public safety.”

Sheriff Davis also addressed the grand jury report that was recently released.

“They talk about the poor conditions in the jail, and I think they mentioned that some of the conditions were inhumane and I can’t really disagree with them on some of their findings,” he said. “But every one of the findings that we do have in the grand jury, we work every day to address them and alleviate the problems that they may have identified.”

The Sheriff says with a nearly 50-year-old jail and understaffing, they’re doing the best they can.

“Sometimes a jail is a violent place. Think about it, the people who are in the Bibb County Jail are people who have killed other people out in the streets. The people who have robbed people out on the streets. The people who have done disruptive things out on the streets. So when they come into jail, sometimes they continue those habits and we have to deal with it as it comes, stated Sheriff Davis.

He says while they’re looking at inmates who might be eligible to participate in the Mayor’s program of release, the main priority is working to maintain the jail.

Sheriff Davis noted new jail expansion would not be ready anytime soon, estimating it could take two or more years to complete it.

Mayor Lester Miller says the newly established Macon Justice and Wellness Task Force will evaluate these new initiatives.