County vows action on jail’s needs

Inmates’ attack on deputies prompts call for increased staffing, security at Morganton facility

Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007

By Marcie Young
Charlotte Observer Staff Writer

MORGANTON – Burke County commissioners vowed this week to make changes in the downtown jail, following a recent escape when three inmates attacked, handcuffed and severely beat the two deputies on duty.

Sheriff John McDevitt and more than 25 deputies, investigators, lieutenants and sergeants sat through a two-hour meeting to hear what commissioners would say about increasing staffing and security at the nearly 31-year-old jail.

"I want to reassure the sheriff's department that we're working on this issue already," Chairman Wayne Abele said at Tuesday night's meeting. "I promise you that something will come of this at our next meeting."

That's good news for McDevitt, who said the jail's list of needs is long. The top concerns, he said, include staffing shortages and the need for working security cameras, new doors, an updated key system and a smoke ventilation system.

"Hopefully, they'll see some of the issues," he said. "We've got to do something."

The No. 1 priority, McDevitt said, is to increase staffing in the 66-bed jail to a minimum of three guards per shift. The move, he said, would require the county to approve funding and hire four new jailers.

"Every year, for the past eight years, I've asked for an additional jailer per shift," McDevitt said last week, "and I haven't gotten a single jailer position yet."

Until commissioners approve a staff increase, McDevitt said, he has brought additional deputies into the jail by recruiting volunteers for overtime shifts.

Abele and Vice Chairman Jack Carroll toured the jail Monday and have been meeting with McDevitt about increasing staffing and security.

"We have to correct the deficiencies in the jail," Abele said. "(The attack) was an awful thing, but it really brought our attention to this."

Abele said Tuesday that he expects that commissioners will vote to add at least two more deputies to the jail, bringing the nighttime shifts up to three guards.

Carroll said he plans to visit a newer facility in Tennessee to get ideas about how to improve the situation in Morganton.

On Jan. 11, three men escaped from the jail while a deputy was administering medication. McDevitt said the men severely beat jailers Dean Miller and Jonathan Earp and handcuffed them to cells before stealing and fleeing in a deputy's personal vehicle.

Miller and Earp were treated and released from Grace Hospital on Jan. 11.

The men were arrested about six hours later when Concord police saw the car cruising through a hospital parking lot.

Bryant Burgess, 22, Larry Harbison, 33, and Matthew Pierce, 18, were charged with misdemeanor escape and an array of felony charges.

The men were returned to the Burke County jail last week and were being held in isolation cells Wednesday.


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