By Investigative Reporter John Taft

Grants Pass – New problems arise in the new jail faster than bills at the end of the month. One of Strobezones inside sources reveals new allegations:

1. Locking problems with some of the cell doors. It is claimed that the locks malfunction and the doors are unable to open for hours at a time. Deputies feed inmates through door slots. What would happen if an inmate had a heart attack? It seems the county could be wide-open for a civil law suit.
2. Recently, at least five different times the fire alarms and water sprinklers have gone off.
3. Patrol deputies are being brought into the new jail to help oversee the inmates. This costs the sheriff more overtime money. One hundred seventy inmates are more than the sheriff can handle.
4. Inmates report the 3,000 calorie meals don’t exist. They also report the food is cheap and the servings are small. A private company handles the food at the jail.
5. Clean clothes and bedding are provided every two weeks.
6. This was a very dry winter, but the roof is reported to have leaks.
7. Jail staff are stingy with the mop buckets. Inmates complain they get to use a bucket for only a brief period.
8. Deputies are reported to abuse inmates with profanity.
9. Sewage overflows with feces appearing on the jail floor.
10. Female guards are able to watch nude male prisoners in the showers. This problem may be alleviated as shower curtains were recently added. That took several months.
11. Many of the deputies aren’t trained to do correction work. It appears Daniel has lots of unqualified deputies on the job drawing union salaries and benefits.
12. Phone calls are said to now be just over a dollar for a 15-minute local call.
13. Visiting hours are on Mondays and Wednesdays for 30-minutes. A new twist is that you have to call 24-hours ahead of time to advise jail staff of your visit.
14. Daniel now has the jail secretaries on jail patrol.
15. What is Sheriff Daniel trying to do to Lt. Gordon Williams? Williams, the number two man in the sheriff’s department, is reported to be out on some high risk assignments, quite often. Perhaps, Daniel wants the talent out of the way so the next election is a clean shot for him. Williams has a couple of years before retirement and may be between that rock and a hard place. Why don’t you run for sheriff, Gordon?
16. It looks like the former JoCo DA Tim Thompson was right. Daniel isn’t qualified to run the sheriff’s department. Thompson made that statement in a letter to the editor in the Daily Courier, in 1998.