PINE BLUFF — A 304-bed jail in Jefferson County is scheduled to receive its first group of inmates today, the sheriff's chief deputy said.
Forty-seven county inmates who have been housed in six other jails will be transferred back to one of two county-run jails, Chief Deputy Stanley James said Friday.
Some will be taken to the new W.C. "Dub" Brassell Jefferson County Adult Detention Center, while others will go tothe existing 106-bed jail, which will continue to house inmates awaiting trial on violent crimes, such as rape and murder.
The new, $11 million jail will open about 100 beds in each of three phases - phase one today and phase two in six to eight months, James said. A phase three timetable has not been set.
The Brassell detention center will employ 24 jailers and five supervisors in phase one, James said.
The 47 inmates being returned to Pine Bluff have been housed in Dumas, Pine Bluff and Sheridan city jails and Ashley, Dallas and Lincoln county jails at a cost to Jefferson County of about $40,000 a month, James said.
Jefferson County voters in August 2003 approved a pair of 0.25 percent sales taxes for construction and operation of the new jail.
It was named after Brassell, who served as county sheriff from 1977 to 1998. He died at age 79 in January 2000 after a stroke.