T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK Belmont County Jail Administrator Chris Baker, left, describes upcoming lighting enhancements at the jail.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Jail is getting some lighting and security upgrades.

On Wednesday, the board of commissioners voted to approve proposals from ERB Electric to furnish and install 10 light heads on existing poles for $5,288 and to furnish and install 16 wall pack lights to replace existing wall packs for $6,175.

Chris Baker, who has served as administrator of the Belmont County Jail since the retirement of Stan Galownia in 2022, said the jail’s current lighting system is out of date.

“We’ve got lights that’s been out there for well over 20 years or so. The lighting’s getting bad for the parking lots. The lights, some of them’s actually not even working at night,” he said, noting that new LED lights will make for a brighter jail. “Everything’s going to be fixed, from the parking lots to the jail itself.”

The commissioners approved a proposal for $30,162.17 from Guard1 to install the company’s Real Time Platform and to provide on-site training at the jail. The fee for annual maintenance after the first year is $8,945.

Lt. Jarrett Weeks, jail staff, said the current Guard1 system is similar to that used in hospitals and shopping malls. Guards will match a mobile device called a “pipe” with the location tags on cell doors and cell blocks where officers make their mandated 60-minute rounds.

“That’s how we prove that we were there. We touch the pipe to the location tag. It generates a report to show for our state inspection critical incidents lawsuits, we can prove we had officers there,” he said.

“This new system, it replaces the pipe with a mobile device similar to a cell phone,” Weeks said, adding the new device uses a similar location tag.

“It proves that we were there. There is many additional features that this has, above and beyond the current system. Officers would be able to scan inmates’ wristbands, they will bring up their picture, their name and charge, their housing location. In addition to the routine checks that we do, anytime an inmate receives medical care, any kind of task that we perform in the jail, it will document that. We can print reports to show for our annual jail inspection to the state of Ohio to prove we are doing the things that we say we’re doing.

“It seems like what we have now is obsolete. We’ve had the Guard1 system for approximately 12 years. This is the technology all of the jails are going to now,” he said. “It interfaces with our current jail management system so it will log the tasks that we’re performing. It helps us manage workflow. Supervisors can see exactly which one of their staff members are doing what task. It shows what tasks are upcoming and due or overdue. It’s just a step we need to take to protect ourselves from liability, protect the county and serve the inmates of the jail more effectively.”

Baker has worked in the prison system for 20 years, with prior experience in Noble County’s penitentiary. He was also the assistant jail administrator for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office before beginning work in Belmont County and eventually succeeding Galownia. Baker said he has brought that experience and a focus on mental health and medical needs to his current position.

He said his management style is to lead by example while accepting input from his officers.

“We don’t run it as a lone-day operation. I want to see how everything’s going to work out for everybody,” he said.

Baker said jail overcrowding has not yet become an issue again following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, with a daily inmate population of 134. The jail facility has a maximum population of 144.

“We are doing a lot of maintenance work to keep what we have, because it was built in 1996, the old part was. The new part was, I believe, from 2011. We’re trying to keep up with a growing old building.”