HENDERSON, KY (WFIE) -
The Henderson County Detention Center will soon see more classroom space.
The county says the jail has seen three additions without any space dedicated to learning.
Deputies at the detention center tell 14 News they hope that new classroom space will help ensure that once inmates leave the jail, they won't be back.
"We've expanded the jail, over 200 inmates, but we've never expanded classroom space," said Col. Chief Deputy of Administration at the Henderson Co. Detention Center Amy Martin.
Martin says, in the jail's 17 years of operation, this project is something new.
She says a new classroom would cost around $60,000 and would be it's own separate building. Right now, the jail says it's deciding between two locations.
"One is in the area that a garden is in currently and another is next to a community service building," Martin said.
The county says the detention center now has over 550 inmates, and Judge Executive Hugh McCormick says more education means fewer inmates returning to the jail.
"Not all of them are bad people. They made a mistake, you know, and it's our goal to help some of them."
McCormick tells us, with fewer local inmates returning, there would be more space for federal and state inmates, meaning more revenue for the jail.
He says due to the passing of House Bill 463, some surrounding counties are having to transfer over $1 million from fiscal court general funds to support their jails, something McCormick says Henderson County is working hard to avoid.
"We want to try to be proactive instead of reactive."
The Detention Center says it hopes to have the new classroom building complete in the next three to four months.
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Martin says, in the jail's 17 years of operation, this project is something new.
