QUESTION: Is it true that there was a riot within the Alamance County jail last week that necessitated calling in reinforcements from other law enforcement agencies.
ANSWER: In an interview with The Alamance News this week, sheriff Terry Johnson acknowledged that inmates in one of the cell blocks had done major damage to one of the cell blocks last week – among other things by tearing sprinklers off the wall.
The sheriff’s summary description is that the actions were those of “just mean, vicious people.”
The sheriff also confirmed that Burlington, Graham, and Haw River police departments assisted his officers in restoring order.
The sheriff reinforced the point made to county commissioners recently in order to justify higher pay to attract more jailers: about one-third of the jail staff positions has vacancies.
He said that much of the staffing is currently being done by having jailers work overtime in order to provide a sufficient number of jailers.
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