The new Henry County Jail, located near the New Castle Correctional Facility, is expected to be open in March 2022. Staff photo by David Penticuff
NEW CASTLE — Henry County is building a new 246-bed jail and sheriff's office near the New Castle Correctional Facility on Van Nuys Road. The $24 million project is expected to house inmates as early as mid-February.
With its construction, the new jail is expected to solve what has been a persistent overcrowding problem for Henry County, one for which Delaware County has provided a temporary solution for by taking in 20 to 30 Henry County inmates each day. Delaware County — which in 2021 opened its own new, larger jail — has been receiving $40 per day per inmate from Henry County for months, Delaware County Sheriff Tony Skinner said.
"We are very appreciative of them," Skinner added.
But it's Henry County Sheriff Ric McCorkle who is thankful to Skinner and Delaware County commissioners for making the space available. Henry County has been a defendant in an ongoing federal lawsuit concerning the constitutionality of overcrowding at its current jail, located in downtown New Castle. That jail was built in 1979 and was designed to house 76 inmates, McCorkle said. Changes in recent years allowed the jail population there to increase to as much as 110.
As of Monday, McCorkle said he had 101 inmates in the jail in New Castle and another 41 inmates being housed in Floyd, Rush and Delaware counties.
Copyright ©2024 The Star Press