The county Correction Partnership Committee is still seeking to stay active despite many discussions to dissolve the committee.

The committee met Tuesday night to elect officers and receive an update from the Sheriff’s Department. Neither the sheriff nor a representative for the Sheriff’s Department attended, but a report that was previously discussed at the county Safety Committee meeting was emailed to chair Joseph Stotts and he read it to the members present. After reading the monthly report, there were questions, but no one was there who could answer them. 

“He’s not here to kind of elaborate and answer questions on that. I would ask him questions related to basically his perspective on why the jail population has gone up, but we don’t have that,” said Stotts.

Since the committee could not discuss the Sheriff’s Department’s monthly report, members moved on to any other business and Stotts took the opportunity to provide his reasoning on why the committee should remain active. He said he believes it will help the county take a proactive approach to maintaining the highest standards possible at Warren County Jail.

The committee then discussed how in the past people would be invited to speak at the meetings such as the DA or Tennessee Corrections Institute representative Bob Bass in order to give an update on how things were going. Commissioner Steven Helton said if they want to continue to be active, bringing in those types of people and exploring different paths related to the jail will be the way to do it.

“Give credit where credit is due. The sheriff and his staff have worked hard with what they have done,” said Helton. “The committee with the sheriff’s help may have put some stuff on paper, but it was them who did it. They executed what we set out as a group. What I am saying is if this committee is going to be active or wants to be active, there might be some other avenues we can work on in the criminal justice aspect of things. A big hinge point of that is the sheriff.”

Added Stotts, “I think there is a huge need for the committee to continue to be proactive. If we want to look at things and be forward thinking and proactive, what better way to do it than meet and talk to the sheriff and hear about things that are going on.”