Sheriff Lutz: Levy on Ballot For New Jail

The Muskingum County Commissioners approve a proposal to place a levy on the November ballot that would fund the construction of a new jail..

Sheriff Matt Lutz says that in his 7 years he’s watched the community outgrow the jail and the building simply can’t house the amount of prisoners brought in.

“This was the first year that we have actually had to take from our jail to another county to house because of being full and so back in 2012, 2013 my second term we started talking about the need for a jail, trying to plan for the future and trying to give our community the best things possible to make sure that we have a place to put criminals off our streets,” said Lutz.

While no location or design is set in stone, Lutz said they are looking to mimic a building already approved by the state,” said Lutz. “The facility would allow the department to handle prisoners with automatic doors and cameras, decreasing officer, inmate contact and increasing safety as opposed to the system in place now.”

“They run the old sliders, the old slider doors, some of them with chains, some have bars and the pins to get the doors open and things and a lot of that stuff they don’t make anymore because it’s so old so everything’s gone to the new style,” said Lutz. “More of the new style is to key in with a lock or magnet style dead bolt that comes open with a push of a button from our central control center.”

Lutz said the construction of this new facility will benefit the community in a big way, if you have a home with a market value of 100 thousand dollars. If passed it will cost you 42 dollars a year. The amount requested to complete the project is 25 million dollars.