Meigs County residents raise concerns about the planned construction of a new prison near a school

MEIGS COUNTY, Tennessee — Some Meigs County residents are concerned about the proposed location of a new county jail.

They fear that it would be built too close to nearby school buildings.

However, commissioners believe that a new prison is needed as the current facility is struggling with overcrowding problems.

The main locations they discussed were either the current prison site on River Road or a new location off East Memorial Drive.

Brandi Zabo regularly walks from her neighborhood to a park right next to Meigs Middle School. Her children often play there.

Now Zabo fears that the planned site for a new prison, just 800 meters away, may be too close to him.

“If you see the orange structure, that's the new playground equipment, that's the public park. And behind that, just down the road, is the middle school,” Zabo says.

Zabo says she and her husband have started several petitions against the construction of a new prison.

“I'm talking about over 500 and that's just a rough estimate. I would say so far there are 500 to 800 signatures.”

But if you look at this map, the current prison is already half a mile from a high school:

Stanley Welch, Meigs County Commissioner and chairman of the prison board, says there was no problem.

“The prison has been there my whole life, the high school has been there even longer,” Welch says.

The Memorial Drive site is 78 acres and is one of the last two sites being considered, along with construction of a new facility on the site of the current Meigs County Jail.

The Tennessee County Services Department conducted an inspection of the River Road site in April 2021. It found that…

“…the approximately 1.6 hectare site did not seem to be sufficient to fully cover the space requirements for the new facility.”

The new prison could create additional beds and address concerns about the aging of the current facility, built in 1963.

“We haven't committed or committed to those plans yet, but we are considering a 120- to 140-bed facility,” Welch says.

But how much will it cost? Welch says…

“Between $26 million and $32 million. This is unconfirmed and depends on how quickly we act. It goes up and down every day.”

Commissioner Welch believes the project is long overdue, but no agreement has yet been reached on a tax increase.

“We need to do something now. As I said, we need to keep the burden on taxpayers in mind,” Welch said.

Commissioner Welch says a vote will be held in September to make the final decision on which site will be used.

He adds that there may be a vote on whether a justice center will be part of the project, which is a consideration in the current planning phase.