Craighead County Sheriff Marty Boyd says the county jail needs an expansion. Boyd told the Craighead County Quorum Court last night the jail is 29 years old and more beds are needed to properly house the inmates.
“Due to the growth of the county and the age of our facility, we have simply outgrown our bed space,” says Boyd.
Boyd says this is needed because of the rapid growth of Jonesboro.
“We are growing two percent every year and with that our problems grow. Good things happen when the population grows, but bad things happen as well and crime is one of those.”
He says he the request for an expansion of the jail will come in the next year. He says more beds are needed to adequately house those who commit misdemeanors and felonies separately.
Boyd says he doesn’t know how much the expansion of the jail would cost and he says he will take his time to do research and to try to present the Quorum Court with a plan that would be as cost effective as possible.