FROM STAFF REPORTS

With the Iredell County Detention Center nearing capacity, county commissioners on Tuesday took a small step toward a possible solution.

Commissioners voted unanimously to authorize County Manager Beth Mull to identify an architect or design firm qualified to evaluate the courthouse and make recommendations about a possible expansion.

Commissioner Bert Connolly, who is also the jail administrator, told the Board of Commissioners that the inmate population at the jail surpassed 470 earlier this week. The facility has a capacity of 500.

A large percentage of the inmates are awaiting trial.

The best way to reduce the inmate population is to have cases move more swiftly through the judicial system, Connolly said. Inmates who are convicted and sentenced to time in state prison can be transported to an N.C. Department of Corrections facility in a matter of days. Those sentenced to time served and/or probation can be released, which also frees up space.

Right now, Connolly said, neither of those outcomes is happening with enough frequency, which is contributing to the high daily census at the jail. He pointed to five long-term inmates, all of whom are awaiting trial, as evidence that the court system must do better:

♦ Erika Renee Altamirano, 39, has been in the Iredell Detention Center for 1,830 days — more than five years. She’s charged with second-degree murder and intentional child abuse.

♦ Landis Darnell Glaspy, 52, has been in custody for 1,718 days. He is charged with armed robbery, assault, possession of stolen property and injury to personal property.

♦ Gerald Issac Lunsford, 47, has been locked up for 1,628 days. He is charged with murder and possession of a firearm by a felon.

♦ Marvin Wade Millsaps, 60, has been in custody for 1,388 days. He is charged with second-degree murder, second-degree forcible sex offense and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.

♦ Chad Bradley Moore, 47, has been locked up for 1,289 days. He is charged with three counts of kidnapping, four counts of assault, intimidating a witness, break or entering to terrorize or injure, and nine other charges.

It costs the county about $130 per day in direct and indirect costs to house one inmate, Connolly said. For the five inmates above, the estimated costs for their incarceration is $1 million-plus and rising by the day.

District Attorney Sarah Kirkman, whose office controls the criminal court docket, said many factors contribute to the lag times between arrest and trial.

According to Kirkman, the factors in the above-referenced cases include the amount of time given to a defense attorney to hire an expert witness; a defendant who has been found incompetent of standing trial (but has not been transferred to a mental health facility due to lack of bed space); a defendant who refuses to cooperate in his mental competency evaluation; a defendant who was incompetent to stand trial until recently; and issues with N.C. State Crime Lab’s handling of DNA evidence.

Courtroom space is also a major issue.

Because Iredell County only has one Superior Court courtroom suited for jury trials, the number of cases that can be heard is limited by courtroom space. On average, the county has 26 weeks of criminal court and 26 weeks of civil court each year, although some criminal cases — typically guilty pleas — are handled during the civil terms.

For comparison, Union County has 46 weeks of criminal Superior Court, Cabarrus County has 46 weeks, and Catawba County has 52 weeks. Lincoln County, which is half the size of Iredell, has 48 weeks of criminal Superior Court.

“With more courtroom space, we could run more terms of criminal court and dispose of more cases, including those cases of people who are in custody,” Kirkman said. “There will always be issues that keep some cases from going to trial as quickly as others, but more court time (because of more court space) could only help the process.”

Iredell County and Alexander County, which make up the 32nd Judicial District, are funded for two full-time judges by the state. Because Alexander County only has 10 weeks of Superior Court, one of the judges is allocated elsewhere when Alexander County Superior Court is not in session. 

Connolly said plans for the courthouse expansion will likely include space for two new Superior Court courtrooms as well as space for the judges’ chambers and administrative staff.

Resident Superior Court Judge Joseph Crosswhite told commissioners during their budget retreat earlier this year that the state would provide additional judges if the county had additional courtroom space. In fact, the N.C. General Assembly has approved funding for 10 special Superior Court judges, one of whom could be assigned to Iredell — if there is a need and courtroom space.

There is no timeline for the courthouse expansion and no cost estimates.

Meanwhile, the jail staff will continue to deal with a surging inmate population.

That’s not an easy undertaking, Connolly said. Even when fully staffed, the facility is only equipped to handle about 350 inmates.

Currently, the jail has eight or nine open positions. Commissioners approved funding for four new detention officers in July and four more in January.

Recruiting qualified applicants has proven difficult because the starting salary is low compared to some other jails in the region, according to Connolly.

On Friday, there were more than 430 inmates in the Iredell County Detention Center.

The alternative to the courthouse expansion is another jail expansion.

“Nobody wants to talk about that,” Connolly said. “We can prevent that if we add additional courtroom space.”