Repair work is picking up speed at the Bertie-Martin Regional Jail, but local officials still have no timeline for when the facility can safely reopen.
The regional jail commission has approved a $250,000 budget item using insurance funds to scrub the empty facility and repair heavy internal damage. Officials say the single biggest expense is fixing dozens of security doors, which federal and state tactical teams had to cut through with industrial grinders to end a seven-hour inmate hostage standoff on June 29.
A local cleaning crew has been hired to lead the indoor cleanup, but the 88 inmates remain scattered in alternative lockups across North Carolina.
While the SBI continues its criminal investigation, jail board members voted unanimously to recruit an outside county to run an independent administrative review. Local leaders say they want an objective look into the staffing shortages and facility processes that failed prior to the cell block takeover.
