Sheriff sues county commission over Autauga County Jail health, safety issues

AUTAUGA COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) - Nearly a year after closing and evacuating inmates from the Autauga County Metro Jail over health and safety concerns, Sheriff Mark Harrell is filing a lawsuit against the county commission, which is tasked with funding and maintaining the facility.

“The remediation is still not complete,” Harrell said, noting the commission has either “denied or ignored” his “numerous requests” for help.

The sheriff made headlines on June 6, 2024, when he loaded inmates into transport buses and relocated them to other jail facilities around the state.

Harrell said he felt he had no choice but to clear the facility over longstanding and unaddressed black mold issues, and that he wouldn’t bring inmates back until the issue was corrected.

“For more than a year I have tried to work with the Autauga County Commission to obtain the mold remediation, funding and completion on the Autauga County Metro Jail,” Harrell said Friday in a statement announcing the suit. “I have made numerous requests to the Commission which have either been denied or ignored.”

The commission said at the time of the jail’s closure that “We have been working diligently, and in good faith, with Sheriff Harrell and his staff to address their important concerns; we will continue to do so and ask him and his staff to do the same.”

WSFA 12 News has reached out to the commission for reaction to Friday’s lawsuit and will add any comment to this article that becomes available.

In addition to the health issues caused by mold, the lawsuit contends the commission “has declined to grant Sheriff Harrell’s requests for additional APOST certified deputies, salary, and benefits, and the necessary vehicles to replace the high mileage vehicles in the Sheriff’s Office necessary to provide the requested security without reducing some of the Sheriff’s Office services.”

“Our number of deputies is less than surrounding counties with less resources and population than Autauga County,” Harrell explained, and the deputies he has don’t have any other choice but to continue trying to use high-milage vehicles in the course of their duties.

Repairing the facility and housing inmates elsewhere is very expensive.

A check by WSFA 12 News in October found that Autauga County was spending at least $140,000 per month to house more than 150 inmates with other agencies.

In April, the commission reported that the jail was slated to reopen by November, with County Administrator Scott Kramer putting the price tag for repairs at $15 million.

“I am deeply saddened that we have had to take this remedy in order to achieve the benefits that the citizens of this county deserve and are entitled to have,” Harrell said.

The 20-page lawsuit was filed in the Circuit Court of Autauga County and sues both the commission as a whole and the commissioners individually in their official capacity.

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