New Jail to open next month in OC

Oconee County Sheriff Mike Crenshaw hopes to open the new detention facility next month. “We’re hoping to transition with an opening in the first of November. We meet with the SC Department of Corrections Inspectors and there was an issue with the ventilation system for the smoke alarm, so they have had some engineers there and they are working to get that fixed. We ask folks to look for some public days in October that we will be advertising, we want our citizens to come and take a tour of this new jail.” Sheriff Crenshaw describes the new jail in Oconee County. “The old jail was 122 beds and this new facility will be rated initially to be 200 beds but we have certain bunks in the jail that we can double bunk and actually go up to 220 prisoners in a bed. We have more opportunities with multi-purpose rooms; if someone doesn’t obey the rules, we can put them in lockdown. It’s not going to be a facility that you come to and you get to lay up and do nothing. We’ve got an inmate liter pick-up program that we are incorporating and at the same time being able to address and offer help to people with addiction problems.” Check the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office website at www.oconeelaw.com to learn more about upcoming public tours of the new jail, which is right beside the old jail.