TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Cochise County Jail is nearly 40 years old, and the ongoing pandemic is highlighting some of the infrastructure issues on Arizona's currently oldest operating jail.
Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels says the age of the jail means it's not meeting the current needs of society.
Sheriff Dannels said "When you have jail that's outdated. And it's not up to current industry standards, you have a safety issues no doubt about that. The other aspect of about it is and then you deal with the health pandemic that's been introduced into our jail, that also, because we're changing our whole operation to navigate these challenges challenges I think that we wouldn't have to if we had a current facility."
The county is in the process of looking at whether to remodel, repair or rebuild the jail, Sheriff Dannels added.
The funding for that would come through measures by the Cochise County Board of Supervisors.
