County starts new jail
By Steve Herring
Published in News on July 19, 2015 1:50 AM
The late Sheriff Carey Winders would have been humbled by Friday morning's ground-breaking ceremony for the new jail that will bear his name, family and friends said. But at the same time, he would have been unable to resist making one of his trademark jokes, said his widow, Teresa.
"He was a larger-than-life person, but at the same time he was a very humble man as well. But I am sure he would have come up with some kind of wisecrack and had everybody laughing," she said.
Nearly 200 people, including Winders' family and a large contingent of law enforcement officers, were on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony for the Carey A. Winders Detention Center on North William Street.
"I know that he would be so honored and so happy and pleased to see that we are finally getting a new detention center," Mrs. Winders said. "He did work a lot of hours and worried a lot about making sure that our citizens were safe. He worried about the safety of his officers and the inmates as well because of the overcrowding problem at the current jail."
The day was a memorable one for the family as well.
"He would be very honored, as my family is honored that the detention center is being named after him," Mrs. Winders said. "Every time that my grandchildren drive by that building and see their Papa's name on it, it will keep his legacy going. It means a lot to me personally because I want people to remember how awesome and how great a man he was and the legacy he left for the people of Wayne County."
Commissioner John Bell, chairman of the commission's Detention Center Committee, said Winders would be happy because the county has been talking about a new jail since 2004. The current jail cannot house all the county's inmates, so some are farmed out to other counties. That is costing Wayne nearly $1 million a year.
"This has been a long time coming and I know that Carey would be very happy because he worked hard and tirelessly trying to get this thing," Bell said.
The jail would have been built sooner, but plans were put on hold when the economy turned down in 2008, Bell noted.
Sheriff Larry Pierce called the groundbreaking a "glorious event."
"It has been a collaborative effort among a lot of different people and agencies," Pierce said.
Pierce said he and Winders had known each other since high school and became "extremely close friends" in 1994 when they both ran for sheriff.
Winders won and Pierce said he supported his friend's administration and even served under him as a reserve deputy.
Pierce said Winders would often call and ask him to meet somewhere.
"We'd meet in a parking lot, and he would say, 'Get over here in my car,'" Pierce said. "So I would go sit in his car, and we would talk about things -- what we wanted to see for the Sheriff's Office because he and I, ironically, basically had the same vision and same wishes for our county and Sheriff's Office"
Pierce said Winders had started talking about the need for a new jail at least 10 years ago.
"So today we gather here to begin to see that vision come to fruition. In approximately a year and a half from now, the Carey A. Winders Detention Center will open and as sheriff of Wayne County I would like to pledge to the Winders family and all of Wayne County that the progress will continue."
Commission Chairman Wayne Aycock spoke of the cooperative effort that had made the day possible. He noted that the Sheriff's Office and jail staff had been involved in the entire process.
The new jail will have 218 beds. The current jail holds 200. The new jail will house misdemeanant and minimum-security inmates, officials said.
Dan Mace, of Mosely Architects that designed the jail, said his company has worked on jail projects across the state.
"Commissioner Bell talked abut all of those who participated," he said. "What I would like this group to know is of all the jails that we do in the state of North Carolina, which is a good many, I have never had an entire commission be as engaged in the process."
Commissioners toured several jails, including one in South Carolina, to determine what is in the best interests of the county and to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, he said.
"I have never seen anything like that," he said.
The $9,407,275 contract to build the jail was awarded by commissioners earlier this month to Daniels & Daniels Construction Co.
The 38,500-square-foot single-story jail will be built on the county-owned former Masons department store property.
The single-story jail will be T-shaped with the top of the T, where the cell pods will be located, running parallel to Stronach Avenue.
The leg of the T will house administration, the kitchen, laundry and other offices and will be perpendicular to Stronach Avenue with a secure, controlled entryway facing that street.
Each pod will have a fenced-in recreational yard.
The jail will front on Stronach Avenue and is the first phase of a larger judicial center, which will be named in memory of the late Sheriff Carey Winders.
The plan includes construction of a larger jail behind the satellite jail.
Provisions have been made in the plan to provide for a secure connection between the two.