VIDALIA — The situation at the parish jail isn’t as dire as originally thought, Police Jury President Melvin Ferrington said.

The police jury is charged with maintaining the jail, and in recent weeks, the possibility of having to close the jail because of the cost of needed repairs has come up several times at the jury’s meetings.

The original estimated costs for the repairs — $800,000 — were more than the jury could afford, and the jury was faced with the possibility of having to house prisoners at the correctional facility on Louisiana 15 at a state rate of $23.49 a day per prisoner.

At the parish jail, prisoners are housed at a rate of $5 a day.

But after a recent inspection by the fire marshal and examination of some of the problems, it looks like the jury will be able to address the issues, Ferrington said.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to come up much further ahead, much cheaper if we fix it and continue to house the prisoners as we are now rather than house them at the state rate,” he said.

One of the issues, plumbing, will be a much easier fix than originally thought, Ferrington said.

Many of the drains and even toilets in the jail have been problematic, flooding when used.

“We had been told the courthouse could have settled and collapsed the pipes, and that’s not the case,” Ferrington said. “I believe they’re just stopped up.”

A plumber will be running a camera through the pipes to find the clog, and Ferrington said the toilets and lavatories would also have to be replaced.

The jury will also have to replace all of the mattresses and bedding in the jail, which should cost approximately $2,250, he said.

Most of the fire marshal’s recommendations involved in-house cleaning such as keeping clothes and towels off of the floor, and placing combustible lids on trashcans.

Other items included addressing the accessibility of electrical wires and extension cords, and changing the locks on cell doors to make sure they can be unlocked from both sides, he said.

The jury also has the option of making a dormitory out of two cellblocks, one of which is not currently in use.

The door between the two is welded shut, and Ferrington said the fire marshal said they could weld the door open to convert the cellblock into a dormitory with the adjacent cellblock.

“He said we had the option of making a dorm of the entire system, but if we did it would only be one cell block, not the whole thing,” Ferrington said.

The jury has 40 days to meet the demands of the fire marshal, and Ferrington said he believes it will be done.

No official decision has been made, and the courthouse committee will meet to make a final decision to recommend what to do to the jury.

The jail has the capacity to house 48 prisoners.