VIDALIA — It’s only a matter of time before the parish government has to spend a significant amount of money or close the parish jail.

Built in the 1970s, the jail now has serious plumbing and electrical problems, from toilets and showers that flood to antiquated door locks, lights that only work after someone pounds on the fixture and one cell block where cell doors can only be opened manually following a recent electrical short that filled the jail with smoke.

Prisoners can’t be housed in that cellblock any more. The jail was built to hold 48 pre-trial prisoners, but is down to 30 workable cells.

“I am surprised we have not had any more problems than we have had with the jail,” Sheriff Randy Maxwell said. “It’s just rotten.”

Along with the rest of the courthouse, the Concordia Parish Police Jury maintains the jail, jury President Melvin Ferrington said.

“If a toilet goes out, we fix it,” he said. “We’ve fixed the heating and cooling, we’ve kept it painted, we’ve done electrical work, put in cameras,” Ferrington said. “We’ve done day-to-day repairs.

“The short of it is it is just old and everything in it is just old and worn out.”

Maxwell agreed that the condition of the jail is not because of a lack of maintenance.

“With anything that old, it is very difficult to manage,” he said. “It is antiquated.”

Bringing that antiquated space up to snuff will be costly. The police jury recently had an inspection of the jail done, and it was estimated the necessary repairs would cost at least $800,000.

“Eventually, it is going to have to have a tremendous amount of work done, but right now we don’t have those funds,” Ferrington said.

“If the fire marshal or the health department comes through and inspects it, I think they are going to find a lot of things they will recommend us to do before we keep prisoners in it.”

If the jury was forced to close the jail, the only place to put the prisoners would be at one of the prison facilities on Louisiana 15, Maxwell said.

“That facility was designed and has everything needed in the event that the jail would be shut down,” Maxwell said. “Frankly, I thought it would happen before now.”

The prison facility has a separate area for pre-trial prisoners, he said.

“It is a safer environment, better care and cheaper on the jury in the long run,” Maxwell said. “If you fix the jail and spend the money, you are still going to have the expense of keeping prisoners there.”

Currently, the jury pays a rate of $5 a day to house prisoners at the parish jail, but the state rate at the prison facility is $23.49 a day.

Three other parishes — Lafayette, Lafourche and Allen Parishes — currently house their pre-trial prisoners at the prison, Maxwell said.

Some of the pre-trial prisoners in jail for lesser offenses who cannot bond out may be placed in the work-release program, Maxwell said.

“A prisoner put in jail for a non-violent offense who owes a back fine or owes child support might be put (in work-release until trial),” he said. “That will give them an opportunity to pay that money off.”

While the decision about what to do with the jail is currently in the air, Ferrington said if it is closed the jury might find some other uses for the space.

“We are just outgrowing the courthouse every day, and there are some things we could use it for,” he said.