SCOTT COUNTY JAIL BEGINS TO SHOW ITS AGE

Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell is shown here standing in the jail's only storage space, which amounts to nothing more than the space between cell blocks.

BENTON -- Six men and two women bumped into each other and a sheriff's deputy as they were locked together by handcuffs to walk across the street to the Scott County Courthouse last Wednesday.

It was "law day," meaning several more trips would be necessary.

The group's escort to the courthouse was a lone deputy. The two women walked without handcuffs, because Sheriff Bill Ferrell said there weren't enough to go around.

Ferrell is still surprised that in his 23 years as sheriff no one has tried to take advantage of the cramped quarters in the jail lobby and attack a deputy.

"Those two women were fighting each other in the cell last night," Ferrell said. "They were coming down off of a meth high."

The 48-bed jail, built in 1932, offers little room to separate prisoners.

Ferrell hopes the oldest jail in Southeast Missouri will be replaced soon when county voters consider a sales tax proposal to fund a $4 million construction plan on April 4.

"This is designed as a dungeon would be in the 1600s," Ferrell said of his jail.

The 9-by-9-foot cells don't meet federal standards, and since 1979, the jail operated under a special consent agreement with the federal courts, Ferrell said.

Each cell has two bunk beds, a toilet and a sink. To gain a measure of privacy, some prisoners hang blankets over the barred doors.

A pair of televisions with 13-inch screens sat on stools in front of two privileged cells isolated in the back of the jail. Aluminum foil was wrapped to the antennas to improve reception.

Other prisoners gathered in a locked area linked to less than half the cells to watch a color television as they waited for another day in court.

The cells in the back of the jail offer the only option to separate women, men and juveniles, Ferrell said.

Women create problems in jail, Ferrell said, because one can take up a whole cell of four beds. It's the only means to provide individual security.

When mentally impaired prisoners are brought to the jail, they have to be kept in a visiting room, the sheriff said.

Seldom is every Scott County prisoner housed at the Benton jail. Popularity of methamphetamine has increased inmates, Ferrell said. Lack of space necessitates almost daily trips to the Butler County Jail in Poplar Bluff, which charges $25 daily an inmate.

Last Wednesday, 22 Scott County inmates were in Butler County.

The jail was remodeled once in 1971, but no storage space was created. Brooms and buckets are kept in a narrow corridor splitting the two rows of cells.

Ferrell pointed out metal grates that separate the cells from the corridor. Before thick plastic covers were bolted over the grates, inmates would carefully pry off the metal covers. Then they were able to get into the corridor and wait for a deputy, Ferrell said.

The only ventilation in the jail is provided by two large shop fans, placed along the back wall.

"If we have a fire, these fans are our only way to deal with it," the sheriff said.

Another concrete block building sits behind the jail at an angle. Jail trustees are sent to this storage building for food several times a day. A video camera at a corner of the jail shows jailers part of the path to the storage building, but not all of it. The camera is stationary.

Ferrell pointed out places just out of the camera's view where trustees pick up photos, notes, whiskey and narcotics left by inmates' friends.

Circuit Judge David Dolan recalled finding a bag of marijuana behind the jail.

"They used to leave it in the Dumpster, too, until we moved it out in front of the building," Ferrell said.

Mike, who has been in jail since Jan. 7 for a third DWI offense, said he has never picked anything up along the path. On Wednesday, he stood in the lobby area, watching prisoners go back and forth before he went to the kitchen to make 138 meals of fried bologna and beans.

"Everybody eats what I cook, even the deputies," Mike said.

Mike said he didn't care to cook for "Mr. Road Rage," a 71-year-old man in jail for following two women from Sikeston to Scott City where he ran them off the road.

"Those women better watch out once I get out of here," said the man, Walter Rogers of Sikeston.

Rogers asked the sheriff what he did with his gun. The sheriff said as far as he knew, Rogers didn't have a gun when he was arrested, and probably didn't need one.

As for the jail, Rogers agreed that it could use improvement.

"It's not that bad, but whatever's wrong, Bill will fix it," Rogers said.