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Escambia County Takes Control Of Jail From Sheriff
October 1, 2013
The Escambia County Commission took direct control of the Escambia County Jail at midnight last night from Sheriff David Morgan.
The commission is now in charge of the facility, its employees and its $31 million budget. There will be some cosmetic changes at first…new uniforms, badges and logos are on the way. And all 400 detention employees now work for the county rather than the sheriff.
Escambia County already had a Corrections Department, which is in charge of the Escambia County Road Prison, only county-operated work camp in Florida that provides a manual labor force for the Public Works Department.
Escambia County will now be directly responsible for responding to a U.S. Department of Justice Investigation into the jail that found several problems, including inadequate staffing. The county and the DOJ are expected to create a draft settlement in the coming months.
Pictured top: As of midnight Monday, Escambia County Jail employees now work for the county commission rather than the Sheriff. File photos, click to enlarge.
Comments
18 Responses to “Escambia County Takes Control Of Jail From Sheriff”
Do inmates still get game time and why are inmates not getting their civil rights and sleeping on the floor they are not animals no disrespect but its wrong how they are being treated something should be done I have a friend that shouldn’t be there she needs to be under a real doctors care but she is being strong until she is released but she shouldn’t have to beg for tampons or toilets tissue and she shouldn’t have to sleep on the floor thank you for reading my comments
Now that the jail is independent from the sheriff’s office I hope medical will stop accepting arrestees who have been injured by deputies
The uniforms they have now say escambia county…why need new ones and a new logo. that money should be spent else where. The jail is still an escambia county jail . That hasnt changed. Come on now jail is jail. it is over crowded and in need of a revamp to hold the inmates properly. With the sour grapes the officers are going to bring everyone they can in to add to the over crowding. Now if some one said they were going to make the officers go to advanced training school so they learn the difference in a man getting cig from his own car, a family dog when they raid the wrong house, and how not to kill the suspects. This would be worth the money.
Look I don’t really understand or try to understand politics or office candidates but I know right from wrong and I know when things change before our eyes. I voted for Morgan the first time the second time absolutely not and will never again our crime has increased homicides have nearly tripled since he came in office and now our own police officers that are taught to serve and protect are becoming so trigger happy shoot and ask questions later and our sheriff finds everyone of them justifiable the bank robbery on 9mile back in maybe april when they had the whole area locked down on my way to pick my grandchildren up from daycare police have every area blocked and the day care right in the middle and I get out of my car and walk up so concerned and freaking cause my grandchildren this officer was so rude to me and told me if I didn’t get back in my car I was going to find myself taking a trip downtown I told him sir im only trying to find out what is going and how I can get my grandchildren he was the biggest rudest jerk I have ever seen and from that point on I have been observing everything and I think the best thing would be for David Morgan to get out of office go get him a tv show cuz that is what he likes to be in the media and on tv at our expense…….
RE: Jason
Guidelines not required salaries. We are not required by population to pay a certain salary to our County Administrator. If you a Morgan supporter, great. I am a correctional officer supporter and think they can be better lead.
If all of you keyboard cops think you can do a better job at the jail or any Correctional Facility, do us a big favor, go to George Stone, pass there physical fitness test then go back to school at nite for 5 months. Our jobs are not that great but we do it for the community that we were raised and live in. I don’t work at the jail but i work these guys everyday and it saves taxpayers money.
Wonder when there will be a new Jail Inmate or Booking Log site set up. We were checking daily in hopes of finding a missing family member. That page on the ECSO site is blank today.
@marshell b. It’s their discretion who they haul in.. I see plenty of hookers walking the streets in Brownsville every time I ride through there.. I never did hear about any of the johns names being made public like he said either.. I voted for him the first time and passed on voting for either the second time..
I bet if you had family working for the jail and risking their lives everyday your opinions would be different!!!
Seriously people, you really think working in the jail or an officer on the road is a piece of cake? If you think you can do a better job, then why don’t you run for Sheriff. You can’t stop all crime. We have a lot of low life’s in this world today that have no respect for the law or anyone else. Maybe if they used the electric chair more often instead of these people living off of our tax money for years, then maybe crime would slow down.
@just thinking wrote:
Ok so now that Sheriff Morgan doesn’t have as much responsibility does this mean his salary will be cut? Come on Commisoners less work means less pay out in the public sector so why not in the county?
The BCC has no control over the Sheriff’s salary. The Sheriff’s salary bis set by the State of Florida based solely on population of the county. It doesnt matter whether the Sheriff is responsible for the jail or not.
You can google “florida salaries elected officials 2013″ and get a link to the 22-page report outlining salaries for all elected official throughout the State.
Yo Paul…If the “boys in green” suddenly are able to pack the jail, to me anyway, will not show Gene anything. What it would show, to me, is that either the Sheriff could not do the full job with the jail under his watch, or the “boys in green” were not doing their jobs before the switch in the jail.
What I hope to see…is more arrest due to the Sheriff having more time to implement some new ideas in stopping the shootings and other crimes in our County. I still have my doubts that Sheriff Morgan can handle civilian policing, due to only having Military Experience to count on.
For some reason I have a feeling the boys in green will be tryin a little harder to have the jail overcrowded.. That’ll show gene..
Ok so now that Sheriff Morgan doesn’t have as much responsibility does this mean his salary will be cut? Come on Commisoners less work means less pay out in the public sector so why not in the county?
All of this over two men with extremely overflowing egos. Think I will move to Alabama. Lol
Look like sheriff Morgan got rid of that hot potato
Now that the lines of responsibility have been clearly determined, the melodrama can come to an end.
More wasted money for new uniforms, etc., and then when the county finds out how difficult it is to run a jail they will dump it back on the sheriff, which means more money to change it back. Hmmm………