Dallas County Jail remains closed, 3 years after tornado and $17M in repairs

Three years after a tornado severely damaged the Dallas County Jail, the jail remains gutted, empty and far from reopening, despite more than $17 million having been spent. 

“This jail is no further along than it was three years ago,” Granthum said as he gave a tour of the building on Jan. 12, the third anniversary of the tornado that ripped through Selma and destroyed hundreds of structures, including the county jail. 

“We need our jail. And right now, we don’t even know when work will start again,” Granthum said.

The Dallas County Commission, who owns the jail, recently put out bids for the third and final phase of the project. Only one contractor submitted a bid, and the price exceeded the remaining insurance funds.

Granthum said he doesn’t know if the county commission will accept the bid, renegotiate or seek additional funding. “I wish the commission would tell us what the plan is,” Granthum said. “Right now, we have no information to give the public.”

In addition to being the anniversary of the tornado, Jan. 12 was Granthum’s first day back at work after having emergency open-heart surgery. The tour would make even a healthy man’s heart ache. 

The tour revealed a shell of rusted metal, exposed ceilings, sandblasted walls left unfinished and no workers on site. “There’s no saws, no drills, no people,” Granthum said during the tour. 

Although a partial roof has been installed and some walls primed, Granthum said the building is now in worse condition than immediately after the tornado. Moisture has caused widespread rust. Mold remains in parts of the building. Electrical systems, all of which are computerized, have not been fully tested since the storm caused fires and shorts throughout the facility.

“We don’t even know what works,” Granthum said. “We don’t have power yet.”

Dallas County has about $29 million in insurance coverage for all its buildings, including the jail. But with the jail’s reconstruction stalled, Granthum said a growing share of that money is being spent on transportation, overtime and vehicle maintenance as deputies shuttle inmates housed in jails from the Tennessee line to Mobile. 

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Each transport is reimbursed through the same insurance money meant to rebuild the jail.

“We’re taking brick and mortar money away from the insurance,” Granthum said. “The longer this drags out, the less money we have to repair the jail.”

With more than 60 high-risk inmates, including murder and manslaughter suspects, housed in Mobile and others scattered across the state, deputies are routinely driving hundreds of miles overnight to bring inmates to court.

Some patrol cars now have more than 300,000 miles. Others were donated by neighboring sheriffs or purchased with limited county funds.

“It’s a hardship on our deputies, and it’s a hardship on families,” Granthum said. “Most people can’t afford to drive to Mobile or Tennessee to visit their loved ones.”

Granthum and Chief Deputy John Hatfield said they have heard the Perry County Correctional Center, where Dallas County houses nearly 200 inmates at no cost, will soon begin charging about $60 per inmate per day. That change alone could cost Dallas County thousands of dollars each week.

Other Alabama counties have built brand new jails from the ground up in as little as 12 to 14 months, according to Granthum. Several of these jails cost around $17 million, roughly the same amount Dallas County has already spent.

“You can actually build a jail cheaper than what we’ve put into this one so far,” Granthum said. “If construction restarted today, it would still take at least 12 to 18 months to reopen, and that’s assuming materials arrive on time.

But with no workers on site and no clear plan for completing the repairs, the timeline remains uncertain, according to Granthum.