At their last meeting, the McCracken Fiscal Court unanimously approved a court order awarding a bid to Cornerstone Detention Products for $340,222, which will cover replacement of locks in the facility.
Jailer David Knight told West Kentucky Star the same company has performed work in the previous two phases, and this will complete the replacement of all of the jail's locks. Officials recognized that the locks were worn out during Bob Leeper's term as County Judge-Executive, which ended in 2018.
Knight said, "We've been working on this for close to two years, I guess."
The first phase replaced slider doors that were operated by air, but now use electricity. They can also be manually overridden if needed. The second phase was done last year and included replacement of 13 interior and exterior doors for the building. This final phase replaces the locks in the remaining doors.
Knight said, "This is just preventative maintenance, as much as anything. Those locks are 30 years old and they wear out. That kind of lock is not something you can get at Lowe's, these things are very expensive built custom locks."
He said there was never a risk of anyone escaping because of the condition of the old locks.
Knight said, "It's just that the locks were old, and you can't get parts for them anymore. We were literally robbing parts from one lock to another to make it function."
He believes the total cost of all three phases of work has been just over $1 million.
Cornerstone Detention Products should begin this work in late April or early May.
