Brockton is now urging the province to make the Walkerton Jail the new ‘regional’ jail for Grey, Bruce and Huron Counties.
After five weeks of trying to save both the Walkerton and Owen Sound jails — Brockton Councillor Chris Peabody says neither community is any further ahead.
So they have decided to focus solely on the Walkerton jail.
And Peabody feels Walkerton is the ideal site for a regional jail system.
Peabody argues it’s centrally located for the three Counties, but it’s also in much better shape than the Owen Sound facility.
More than 700 thousand dollars has been spent on upgrades at the Walkerton Jail since 2008.
Peabody says it only requires another 90 thousand dollars in work and this could be done over a three year period.
Brockton also notes in its resolution to the province that the jail is not under utilized because it serves as a remand centre and houses intermittent offenders.
95 per cent of the inmates incarcerated at the Walkerton Jail are as result of drugs — and of that number — half are directly related to use of crystal meth.
The Crystal Meth Task Force has already identified a lack of resources in this area — and Peabody says the loss of the jail would be yet another blow.
