Work to repair tornado damage at Dallas Co. Jail at a standstill
From the West Alabama Newsroom–
Three years after sustaining major damage from an EF-2 tornado. The Dallas County Jail remains closed — and very little progress to repair the facility is being made.
A walk through the inside of the jail — reveals a facility pretty much in the same shape it was — about two years ago.
“We’re out at the jail showing progress, or the lack of progress I guess. And as you can tell there’s nobody out here working,” said Sheriff Mike Granthum.
“There’s no sawing going on, no drills you know, no workers. And we’re jut at a stand still.”
The jail was one of the many buildings damaged in January of 20-23 — when an EF-2 tornado hit the Selma area. The tornado ripped the roof off the building causing extensive water damage inside.
Granthum says while the roof was quickly repaired to prevent further damage inside the building — the work to make the other repairs the facility needs — has ground to a halt.
“This jail is no further along than it was three years ago. We do have a partial roof that’s on it. There’s been a little bit of sandblasting and some wall coatings. When I say wall coatings, some primer and some paint. But as you can tell when we walked through there’s rust everywhere.”
Granthum says the county has already spent $17 million dollars — and the jail is nowhere close to being repaired — while the cost associated with transporting and housing inmates in other counties — continues to add up.
“You could actually build a jail ground up cheaper than what we’ve put into this jail so far,” said Granthum.
About 130 inmates were removed from the jail following the tornado. They remain housed in other jail facilities around the state.
