HIAWASSEE, Ga. – Towns County Sheriff Chris Clinton took to the WJUL radio airways Friday, Sept. 13 to share his favorable views on California’s legislation to ban private prisons. Sheriff Clinton included information on discipline requirements for inmates detained at the Towns County Detention Center.

Sheriff Chris Clinton

“When you walk back into one of our pods, the inmates snap to attention,” Clinton said. “They announce attention on deck. It’s like a Marine Corps parade deck. Head and eyes straight forward, thumbs on the side, on the seam of their trousers. They’re not allowed to follow you with their eyes, first and last things out of their mouth better be sir or ma’am. And we do that for a reason. It’s a security thing. Inmates fight when they’re scared. As our jail commander likes to tell folks when we bring them through a tour of our jail, they don’t fight in our jail because in our jail, an inmate would have to ask permission to fight first, and we’re not going to give it to them so they don’t just even bother.”

Towns County’s sheriff additionally voiced support for California’s recent bill to abolish private prison facilities, which if signed as expected by California Governor Gavin Newsom, will prohibit the state government from entering into or renewing contracts with private, for-profit prisons to incarcerate state inmates.

“The way the Constitution works, when you’re housing an inmate – like the sheriff, if I house that inmate somewhere else – I’m still responsible for that inmate, and so I’m not a fan of turning the responsibility of the inmate over to some private sector that has no duty. The sheriff has a duty to keep these inmates safe. I just don’t think it’s good,” Clinton said.

According to research, The Georgia Department of Corrections holds current contracts with two private prison companies: Corrections Corporation of America and the GEO Corporation. The facilities are contracted to house a total of 7,974 offenders in four private facilities.

Feature Image: Towns County Detention Center