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Trustee dorm for St. Landry Parish jail apparently ready since last year
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OPELOUSAS, La. (KLFY) -- Parish officials say the trustee dorm was ready to house trustees last October. Over a year later, no trustees have been moved in.
The facility was built to help with the parish jail's overcrowding issue. Right now, inmates are sent to other facilities. This costs the parish over a million dollars a year, according to Sheriff Bobby Guidroz.
Parish President Jessie Bellard said the trustee dorm was built so they could bring parish inmates back, lowering jail costs for St. Landry.
Bellard said the trustee dorm would save the parish between $70,000 to $100,000 per year.
The parish spent almost $1.5 million on the facility, expecting to see a return on their investment in about a year.
"We didn't invest almost $1.5 million in that trustee dorm just so it can sit there," Bellard said. "We invested that money to lower our cost of housing inmates out of parish."
The renovations were completed last October, but Guidroz said he couldn't move inmates in then.
"It was not ready last October because the (security) cameras were not set up," Guidroz said.
Guidroz also said he needed state approval before moving inmates in, approval he said he already has.
"I'm anxious to get inmates in there," Guidroz said. "But if you're being told or the public is being told, I'm holding them up, it is because of legal issues."
Guidroz continued, "Fire Marshal, State Department of Corrections, State Department of Health and Human Resources- those are the things that have to give me the okay. And all three have."
The sheriff said the expected opening date is the first week of January. However, that date is not official because the Sheriff has not yet hired staff for the trustee dorm.