A recent inspection of the Bulloch County Jail resulted in two minor issues of concern — shower vents and shower ceilings in need of painting and repair.
Bulloch County Health Department inspector Marlin Thomas visited the jail Wednesday to conduct a requested inspection.
“I called him,” said Bulloch County Sheriff Noel Brown.
After social media comments were posted alleging problems such as black mold and bedbugs, Brown said he called for the inspection and admitted “as a jail, we sometimes do have bedbugs. I think they found one” during the inspection Wednesday.
However, Thomas’ report did not mention bedbugs, and Thomas told his supervisor he “found no black mold or bedbugs,” Bulloch County Health Department District Manager Brad Wiggins said Monday afternoon.
The only issues Thomas found in the jail that his report stated required attention were that the shower ceiling needs repair and painting and that shower vents were not working properly, according to his report the Statesboro Herald obtained Monday after an Open Records request. Brown said what some suspected was black mold “was only dust.”
The jail is regularly serviced by a local exterminator, he said, adding that such problems as bedbugs and head lice are always an ongoing issue at any jail, with the constant influx of new inmates. He said any issues of concern will be addressed.
Wiggins said while the Health Department does inspect the Bulloch County Correctional Institute kitchen, which serves the jail, the Health Department does not oversee jails or prisons. Wednesday’s inspection was conducted at the request of the sheriff, he said. Wiggins was not immediately certain of who, if anyone besides a sheriff or warden, would oversee the inspection of jail conditions.
The Bulloch County Grand Jury, which meets four times a year, also conducts jail inspections when it convenes. Further information on Grand Jury inspections of the Bulloch County Jail was not immediately available Monday.
Herald reporter Holli Deal Saxon may be reached at (912) 489-9414.