Dallas County Jail repairs underway, starting at the top

As Dallas County Sheriff Mike Granthum sees it, the one good thing that will come out of the January 2023 tornado is the new county jail.

The jail, which was built in 1969, needed some repair and renovations. But Granthum realized that in a small, rural county “it’s hard to build another jail.”

Then came the Jan. 12 tornado. The jail was severely damaged when the tornado ripped through the middle of Selma.

Repairs on the Dallas County Jail began a month ago after negotiations with the insurance company and problems getting materials. “It’s moving pretty fast now,” Granthum said.

Repairs start with the roof. “When it rains, water still pours in,” Granthum said. He said the roof repair will take close to three months.

Granthum explained that when the tornado hit, it was the roof that took the brunt of the damage. The building itself is built with thick concrete walls that were not affected, but rain poured into the building through the damaged roof shorting out everything electrical.

“When water and electronics mix, it’s not a good outcome,” Granthum said. “I was here a couple of minutes after the tornado actually hit. There were sparks flying and things popping. The generator was destroyed, so we didn’t have lights or anything.”

Mold is also a problem. Crews wash down the walls every day with a special solution to prevent mold from growing. The county is renting generators to provide power to keep air flowing inside the building to prevent mold.

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“We can’t run any air units yet,” Granthum said. “And we don’t know the extent of the electrical damage until we at least get temporary power in the building.”

Work on the inside of the jail can start when the roof is repaired. “The outside when they get finished will pretty much look the same, but the inside will be new,” he said.

Camp Perry Varner, the juvenile education and detention facility adjacent to the Dallas County Jail, has been back in service for about three months, according to Granthum. “It didn’t get as much damage as the main part of the jail,” he said.

Acquiring building materials is trickier when building a jail. Most items used in a jail are specialized for security reasons. “Even the light fixtures have to be jail specific,” Granthum said. “Showers are different; the toilets are different. Then you have to have someone who knows how to install that kind of stuff.”

Reopening the jail will save the county money being spent serving inmates housed in other jails and transporting inmates to court. Dallas County inmates were sent to 14 jails all over the state immediately after the tornado, but they have since been consolidated to seven or eight jails that are closer, cutting travel costs and wear and tear on vehicles, Granthum said.

Granthum said 70 to 90 Dallas County inmates are housed in the Alabama Department of Corrections facility in Perry County. “We are very fortunate; the state has not charged us a dime. We pay for all the medical (expenses),” but the state absorbs most all other costs, he said.

Granthum added that other sheriff’s departments have donated vehicles to Dallas County. “We’ve had between 15 and 20 cars donated,” Granthum said. “We are able to keep about 10 of those on the road because many were in excess of 300,000 miles. The Attorney General even donated three cars.” He said Dallas County donated two police cars to the city of Selma.

Currently the county is hoping to be awarded a $250,000 grant for new vehicles from U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville. The county purchased six new trucks for the sheriff's department a year ago, and they have finally been delivered.