Hardin County Sheriff JT Fricker
HARDIN CO., Ill. - Leave it to practical-minded Hardin County Sheriff JT Fricker to come up with a solution to an issue that's kind of crippled county residents and those from surrounding counties for several years now: The closure of the Illinois Department of Corrections work camp out on Highway 1 north of Cave-in-Rock.
Fricker posted on the Hardin County Sheriff's Department Facebook page the following:
For those mobile-y challenged, it reads:
When the Hardin County Work Camp closed our community took a hard hit. This was one of the few major employers in our area. Although our community fought to keep it open the attempts were unsuccessful and there are no plans of reopening it. Tonight (Thursday - Jack note) Sheriff Fricker met with the commissioners about his plan to pen the work camp as Hardin County's new detention center. The former work camp would provide us with enough room to house between 75 to 100 inmates and would employ approximately 35 to 40 workers! Our current jail is the 2nd oldest that's not had major renovations and the very smallest jail in the state. We house 6 inmates in 3 double cells and employ 3 full time and 5 part time jailers/dispatchers. Even though our jail always passes inspection without issues, the building is old and has been grandfathered in under Illinois Jail Codes. We are thankful for our jail however the new detention center will house federal inmates like Saline and White counties do now, inmates from surrounding counties that don't have jails and the overflow of inmates in other counties. Housing these inmates will bring in revenue for our community! We are currently working with state and federal resources to secure funds for this project. Although we are still in the early stages of planning we are excited for the employment and revenue opportunities and to bring life back to an existing resource in our community!
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The Hardin County Jail/Sheriff's Office
It's a great idea...and it needs folks to get behind it; not just those from Hardin, but also from the surrounding counties of Gallatin, Saline, Pope, Johnson, etc....especially if the ongoing push to gather up illegals (federal criminals) begins in earnest and the facilities in counties where the majority of them light (Gallatin, White, Wayne, Hamilton and Franklin to the north; Johnson, Union, Jackson, Alexander to the south and west) fill up and overflow. Federal holding brings in big bucks, yours mine and our tax dollars at work...why not put them to work in a place where people need jobs??
Go to, JT....git er done.