Case study, Durham County: Changes can begin by offering pre-trial services

The Durham County Detention Facility opened in the summer of 1996 with a capacity of 576 single cells. By 2005, the jail was at or over capacity a majority of the time. 

Knibbs' toxicology report released

District Attorney Greg Newman confirmed Monday morning that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of North Carolina released its toxicology report concerning Michael Scott Knibbs, who was shot by Macon County Sheriff’s Deputy Anthony Wade Momphard, Jr. on April 30, 2018, after Knibbs aimed a loaded shotgun at the deputy sheriff. The toxicology report shows that Knibbs’ blood alcohol level at the time of the incident was 0.23, almost three times the legal limit of 0.08 when driving a car.  

Snapshots of WNC jails: Not all jails are created equal

In a criminal justice system that is often operated under rigid regulations and protocols, people may be surprised to find the disparities within the walls of local jails. 

All the jails have the same basics — sally port, booking area, magistrate office, holding cells, inmate pods and control rooms with security cameras — but each facility is set up a little differently. 

To build or not to build: Sheriffs assess need for future jail expansion

When county jails are constantly at or over capacity, the easiest answer seems to be to build a bigger one.

High pressure, low pay: Detention officers pay price for crowded jails

Taxpayers aren’t the only ones paying the price for the growing number of incarcerations and overcrowded jails. 

The cost of incarceration

As The Smoky Mountain News embarks on a yearlong investigative project to explore the rural jail crisis, we wanted to first take a look at how much incarceration is costing the taxpayers in Western North Carolina. 

Financial data was collected from the four counties in our coverage area — Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain — to analyze how much each spends annually on local detention centers and how it impacts the overall county budget. What we’ve found is that costs are rising annually and budgeting can be difficult with so many fluctuating expenses to consider. 

The damage done: finding needles in a haystack

Lindsay Regner and Megan Hauser tromp down an old railroad line, their steady pace creating a predictable beat of feet dragging across road-grade gravel. 

Covering the rural jail crisis

Many rural county jail populations are growing at a higher rate than urban county jails or even state prisons, according to research done by the Center on Sentencing and Corrections at the Vera Institute of Justice.

Laying down the law: Officers, DA explain challenges within the system

If you don’t have much experience within the criminal justice system, trying to navigate the system can be frustrating.

Jackson wrestles with budget crunch

With the deadline to adopt a new budget drawing ever closer, Jackson County Commissioners are still deliberating how to handle $1 million in last-minute budget requests. That’s on top of an already planned $979,800 public safety increase that’s spurred a 1-cent per $100 property tax increase in the proposed budget. 

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