The Coffee County Sheriff’s Dept. will host an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony at its new jail on Saturday and the public is invited to attend.
The $22 million, 400-bed facility is located at 3176 Hillsboro Highway. The open house will take place from 1-5 p.m.
Inside the new jail visitors will find separate quarters for male and female inmates. Also the facility has a roughly 1,200-square-foot medical wing inside the new jail that includes numerous examination rooms, a restroom and a quarantine facility for inmates with contagious illnesses.
Each cell at the new jail will house two inmates.
In other jail news, the Coffee County Purchasing Commission has approved to outsource the new jail’s healthcare operations to Quality Correctional Health Care (QCHC) starting next month, at a cost of $456,000 per year.
The annual cost includes all medical care as well as mental health services, dental work up to $12,500 per year and most pharmaceutical drugs, with the exception of HIV and other specialty medications.
Inmate medical costs for the current fiscal year ending June 30 are expected to end up somewhere between $1.2 and $1.5 million.
Sheriff Steve Graves said in an interview on WMSR last month that he expects jail medical costs will come down substantially at the new facility. The two-man cell system should make things safer, cleaner, and healthier for everyone including jail staff.

On Wednesday, members of the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office arrested Eddie P. Pilkington, age 62, of Shelbyville, for Aggravated Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.
Pilkington’s arrest comes after good teamwork between the Bedford County Sheriff’s Office and the Winchester Police Department’s ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) Unit. On March 25, 2015, investigators from both agencies executed a search warrant at Pilkington’s residence and recovered evidence that included child pornography.

A House panel has defeated a proposal to ban alcohol sales to people with three or more drunken driving convictions. The House budget subcommittee rejected the measure on a voice vote this week. The bill would have required the words “No Alcohol Sales” be printed on the license of people with at least three DUI convictions for between five and fifteen years. The measure would have required affected drivers to pay the $12 to include the language on the licenses. Critics noted that the bill would not affect alternate ID’s like passports, and that separate legislation seeks to do away with universal carding requirements for people who look over 50.

E-cigarettes are increasing in popularity and new data released from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration indicates some of its success is due in part to a popularity among middle and high schoolers. New information indicates e-cigarette usage tripled among ‘tweens and teens from 2013 to 2014. Director of the CDC Tom Frieden says the increased popularity of the product is working against other progress made in the fight against cigarette smoking. “Big picture is we’re seeing a striking increase,” says Frieden. “It’s very concerning. It more than counterbalances the decrease in cigarette smoking, which we’ve seen occurring in the last few years.” Last year, the Tennessee Department of Health issued a public health advisory on the use of e-cigarettes, citing what it called inadequate scientific information on the long-term impacts of e-cigarette usage. Another area of concern for the CDC is the popularity of hookahs, which are large pipes used to smoke flavored tobacco. Brian King, deputy director for research translation with the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health, says the various flavors offered with e-cigarettes and hookah tobacco make them an interesting option to young people. “Hookah, like e-cigarettes, are not regulated, although they have proposed to be regulated,” says King. “They’re still available in flavors, particularly kid-friendly flavors that can increase appeal and access.” This is the first time since the government began collecting data on e-cigarettes in 2011 that current e-cigarette use surpassed current use of every other tobacco product, including conventional cigarettes.