County upgrades jail plumbing

    Murphy – Cherokee County maintenance crews are nearing the completion of a jail plumbing project that prevents inmates from flushing linen, clothes and contraband down toilets.
    “The purpose of flushing sheets and jumpsuits is not to destroy property; it’s to stop up the system so it will overflow onto the floors and flood the cells,” Sheriff Derrick Palmer said while explaining why inmates may flush linen. “That’s their way of punishing the detention officers, who then spend the next few hours mopping up water.”
    If an inmate flushes a toilet twice within a five-minute period, the new plumbing system automatically shuts down for an hour. As an added bonus, the system allows jail staff to prevent flushes prior to random cell searches.
    “Before we got this system, when we’d do a cell search, you could hear commodes flushing like crazy,” Palmer said. “And it wasn’t just drugs or weapons [they were flushing]; it could be 14 packs of Ramen Noodles or other stuff they’re not supposed to have.
    “They do a lot of trading and bartering in jail, so someone may order a bunch of noodles and Little Debbie cakes from the commissary, and then the pod bully or the boss of the pod may rob them or force them to give it to them. So when we do searches, they’ll start flushing all the stuff they’re not supposed
to have so their privileges won’t be taken away for having it.”
    The new plumbing system also prevents inmates from steaming up the pods while taking showers, which are now limited to six minutes at a time.
    “They used to run hot water until everything steamed up to make it hard to see inside the pods and mask their activities,” Palmer said.     
    “Now, if they go over
six minutes, the system will lock down so they can’t take anymore showers for an hour.”
    The plumbing project costs about $90,000 and could be complete by the end of the month. Essentially, the new system controls the amount of water that flows into cells and allows a detention officer to immediately shut off the plumbing via a laptop. The system is expected to reduce water usage by 30-50 percent.
    The project replaced valves, controls, electrical work and plumbing throughout 48 cells, 53 toilets, 53 sinks, 48 showers and a nurse station. To complete the project, the maintenance team must do the same throughout four day rooms and the maximum security showers.
Officials expect to use an additional 16 man hours to complete the project. The three-person maintenance crew has already logged about 232 man hours on this project.
    “What we replaced was obsolete,” County Manager Randy Wiggins said. “We couldn’t find parts for it.”
Palmer is also contemplating whether to replace the jail’s sprinkler system at a later date.
    “The sprinkler heads are exposed, so inmates will get on top of their bunks and knock them off to try and flood the cells,” he said.
    “We’re looking at getting a fire alarm system with recessed sprinkler heads.”