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Murphy – The Cherokee County Detention Center, which was overbuilt in 2008 to house out-of-county and federal prisoners as a revenue stream for the county, has paused accepting federal prisoners following the death of a jail guard during an escape attempt by a federal prisoner on June 30.
Cherokee County Sheriff Dustin Smith said he and the U.S. Marshal’s Office agreed to “pull out for a little while” following “public outrage and questions” following the death. The contract for federal prisoner’s remains intact, and the detention center will “start phasing (federal prisoners) back in as soon as it’s right” and following a review.
Cherokee County Transport Detention Officer Francisco Flattes was shot and killed at a physician’s office in Peachtree during a scheduled appointment for Kelvin Simmons, a federal prisoner facing bank robbery, carjacking and attempted kidnapping charges out of Buncombe County. Simmons, 50, of Concord, is facing a federal murder charge from the homicide and could face the death penalty.
Law enforcement alleges that Simmons shot and killed Flattes, 56, and assaulted Detention Officer George Feinauer, who was also injured but not by gunfire. Simmons stole a car and led law enforcement on a chase across three counties before he was captured near Franklin.
It was Simmons’ second escape attempt since October 2024, when he scaled a fence topped with razor wire at the detention center. He was captured a short time later with severe lacerations and an ankle injury.
More prisoners from counties
Federal prisoner housing has the potential to bring $1 million or more to the county. A contract was signed in 2009 with the U.S. Marshal’s Office for the Cherokee County Detention Center to guarantee 48 beds for federal male prisoners and eight beds for female prisoners.
The Marshal’s Office would pay $55 per day per inmate at that time. That fee was increased to $70 last year, Smith said.
Smith said the detention center is accepting more prisoners from other counties to make up some of the difference from the pause in federal prisoners.
This week’s booking list for the Cherokee County Detention Center includes 10 prisoners transferred from Nash County alone, along with three prisoners from Graham County and one from Swain County.
Most of the Nash County prisoners face non-violent felony and misdemeanor charges, but one – Elijah Joyner of Rocky Mount – faces four counts of attempted first degree murder.
Crunching the numbers
According to Cherokee County Chief Financial Officer Candy Anderson, federal jail housing fees brought in $158,635 from July 1, 2024, the start of the fiscal year, to Nov. 7, 2024. This year, the number is $6,626.
The revenue loss has been offset somewhat by an increase in prisoners from other counties in the state, with $63,240 brought in to date in 2024 and $99,301 brought in during the same time this year.
In July, the detention center had 19 federal inmates and almost no inmates from other counties aside from those adjacent to Cherokee. At that number, at $70 per day per federal prisoner, the county would see $39,900 a month for housing federal prisoners, according to sheriff’s office numbers.
Housing 30 inmates from other counties at $55 per prisoner per day, that is about $49,500 per month. Smith said housing prisoners from other counties is less labor-intensive than housing federal prisoners.
“With these inmates Cherokee County is not required to transport these inmates to any court dates,” he said. “Where federal inmates required two staff members with every escort. Sometimes driving to Asheville several times a week spending all day waiting on the federal court process.”
According to a jail count, out-of-county inmates as of Monday were:
- Graham County: 6 inmates.
- Jackson County: 7 inmates.
- Macon County: 5 inmates.
- Nash County: 10 inmates.
- Vance County: 2 inmate.
- Out of state: 1 inmate.
- Statewide Misdemeanant Confinement Program: 3.
The detention center has three full-time positions open, with three applicants going through the hiring process.