More cell locks broken by inmates, building age in ongoing Memphis jail facility struggles

Additional locks on the cell doors at the Shelby County Jail, commonly called 201 Poplar, have been broken by inmates and old age, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office confirmed to The Commercial Appeal Friday morning.

The additional locks that were broken were first mentioned by SCSO Chief Administrative Officer Alicia Lindsey during a Shelby County Board of Commissioners committee meeting Wednesday, a week after The CA reported that electric locks on the third floor were broken after a power surge .

When Lindsey mentioned inmates had broken locks, and that emergency funds were needed for new locks, The CA reached out to SCSO to clarify if this was a separate incident.

"There were additional doors on other floors that were vandalized by residents, as well as doors that have mechanically failed due to time and age," John Morris, a public information officer with SCSO, said in an email statement Friday. "However, with the emergency expenditure of funds approved by the county commission, parts have been ordered to fix all doors."

The electric locks that were broken in April posed safety concerns — which were primarily attributed to understaffing at the jail — a source, who works in the legal system and The CA is not naming due to fears of reprisal, said at the time.

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During the County Commission meeting, Lindsey said that about 100 door locks had been broken by inmates.

The locks broken by a power surge and the jail's old age are the latest in a string of maintenance issues at the jail. Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner has called for a new jail facility to be built, citing the age of 201 Poplar, which was built about 40 years ago.

In late February, the jail put in a request for a new boiler system — a $2.2 million emergency purchase — after spending months with a smaller, rented boiler due to the jail's original system failing .

A $250,000 feasibility study into the prospects of building a new jail was passed by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners in early April . A bill in the Tennessee General Assembly that would have allowed Shelby County voters to approve a sales tax increase to failed in a mid-March subcommittee vote, the Daily Memphian reported . Those increased tax revenues would have been used to fund a new jail.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com , or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton .

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: More cell locks broken by inmates, building age in ongoing Memphis jail facility struggles