‘Full cost of the cameras is estimated to be around $1 million’- Sheriff Wayne Barton

JACKSBORO, TN. (WLAF)- The Campbell County Jail is one step closer to having a full camera system throughout the facility.

A Zoom meeting is planned for next week to “finalize the bid specs,” Campbell County Sheriff Wayne Barton told the jail committee on Tuesday. The process to price, plan, purchase and install cameras has been underway since September 2022, he said.

After this, the bid will be publicized and “someone will be awarded this contract,” Barton said.

Providing the committee with this update, Barton said the county had already spent $140,000 and “not turned the first bolt.” The full cost of the cameras is estimated to be around $1 million, according to Barton.

Installing cameras would be “better on officers, better on inmates,” Barton said. It will be an exhaustive project with all of the old cabling being replaced with new cabling.

Reminding the committee a body scanner had been installed to help stop contraband from coming into the facility, Barton said 11 people were being prosecuted for their attempts to do so.

“Ten years from now, jails will still have the same problems,” Barton said.

Following the meeting, WLAF spoke exclusively with Barton and Deputy Jacob Jones, who has been instrumental in the project.

“This is good protection for every inmate,” Jones said.

Regarding the three deaths that have occurred in the jail, Barton said having cameras would have helped to “see actually what happened.” (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED 7/12/2024-6AM)

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