Shelby County deputies relocate jail inmates after power surge breaks cell locks at 201 Poplar

Locks on a "number of cells" on the third floor at the Shelby County Jail, commonly referred to as 201 Poplar, are broken, forcing corrections officers to relocate some residents, the Shelby County Sheriff's Office confirmed to The Commercial Appeal.

Some doors, SCSO said, were able to be manually locked. Others were not, and inmates in cells that could not be manually locked were relocated.

The locking mechanism, which is electric with a manual back-stop, broke in mid-April after a power surge, SCSO said.

"This did not impact regular operations. The parts have been ordered," Lt. Joseph Fox, a public information officer with SCSO, said in an email statement.

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Fox said there were no injuries reported by inmates or corrections officers.

A source who works in the legal system, who The CA is not naming due to fears of reprisal, said that the safety conditions in the unlocked pods seem to "generally be related to the ongoing problem of understaffing."

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner has said on numerous occasions that the jail is understaffed.

Other issues abound in the Shelby County Jail

The locks breaking in the pod are the latest in a string of issues 201 Poplar has faced. All the issues inside the building, which was built in the 1980s, have sparked official discussions about building a new facility. In late February, the jail put in a request for a new boiler system — a $2.2 million emergency purchase — after spending months with a smaller, rented boiler due to the jail's original system failing.

"The power surges do occur due to the age of the jail, however we stay on top of mitigating the effects when they occur," Fox said of repairing the cell locks.

Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner has requested a completely new jail be constructed to replace 201 Poplar, citing the age and condition of 201 Poplar.

A $250,000 feasibility study into the prospects of building a new jail was passed by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners in early April.

A bill in the Tennessee General Assembly that would have allowed Shelby County voters to approve an increase in the sales tax rate to 10.75% failed in a mid-March House subcommittee vote, the Daily Memphian reported. The revenues from the tax increase would have been used to fund a new jail.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at [email protected], or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby Co. Jail power surge breaks cell locks, inmates relocated