Gloucester County Jail Starts The Shutdown Process
By David Madden
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Gloucester County begins the process of closing down the county jail today.
They are sending the last 200 plus male inmates to other facilities in New Jersey. Those convicted and sentenced will be located in Burlington and Essex Counties.
Anyone with pending cases will be housed in Cumberland and Salem Counties, where they can be shuttled to and from Woodbury for hearings and meetings with lawyers.
Video hookups will also be utilized when appropriate, according to Gloucester County Administrator Chad Bruner.
"In the short term, we're saving anywhere between $7 million and $8 million, long term, meaning within the next two years. Upwards of 10 to 11 million dollars a year," Bruner says.
That's after paying those other counties to take the inmates.
Hopes are to finish the transfers by month's end, even as public defenders pursue a lawsuit aimed at reversing the move.
