County officials from Mc-Clain and Garvin Counties met at the McClain County Courthouse November 8 to again kick around the idea of a regional jail for the two counties.
All three county commissioners from both counties were on hand plus sheriffs Landy Offolter and Jim Mullett, plus county clerks and a trio of attorneys.
The group met for 90 minutes continuing preliminary discussions about a detention center that, if eventually approved, would be shared by the two counties at a location still to be determined.
No official action came out of the meeting.
John D. Montgomery, publisher of The Purcell Register, writes that McClain County’s jail has 52 beds and is overcrowded, and McClain County pays other facilities to house prisoners.
The counties are discussing a 300-bed facility that could also house DOC or federal detainees for a daily fee.
He said Garvin County is in much the same boat although they do have a few more beds in their current facility at 73.
Commissioner Wilson Lyles said officials are trying to see how financing could be worked out that would be fair to both counties. Projected cost of a shared jail is between $30-35 million.
