Rutherford County Sheriff Aims to Break Ground on New Murfreesboro Jail by End of 2027

Rutherford County wants shovels in the ground on a new jail in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, by the end of next year. Sheriff Kenneth Barrett told WGNS last week that if the county buys the land it wants off South Church Street, his office can start moving on plans for the new detention center.

"...we're shooting for the end of '27. So by the end of next year, we'd love to be breaking ground," Barrett said. He said the whole project could be finished, with inmates moving in, around 2031.

The price tag

WGNS put the cost of a new jail at no less than $400 million, and said the number will likely climb with costs. A WGNS news roundup a few days earlier called it a $365 million project, so the published estimates don't match yet.

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Why the county says it needs one

The current Rutherford County Adult Detention Center sits at 940 New Salem Highway. The original jail went up in the late 1980s, and a multistory addition opened in 1998.

That addition was designed for up to 500 inmates. After later changes, the jail is now allowed to hold around 975. The daily count runs between 1,050 and 1,100. Meanwhile the county's population has grown nearly 129% since 1998, to an estimated 392,000.

Barrett, newly elected, recently walked county commissioners through the jail so they could see its condition for themselves.

The fight over the fairgrounds site

The land the county wants is the former fairgrounds property on South Church Street, next to the county workhouse and juvenile detention center. Commissioners are still pursuing it despite opposition over eminent domain and cost, a WGNS roundup reported earlier this month.

The owners have pushed back hard. In July they asked commissioners to reconsider the vote to take their 52 acres, WSMV reported, saying the county's valuation of $14 million to $18 million was far below a $38 million private contract already on the property.

County leaders, who had earlier offered $24 million, said the site matters because it sits next to the county's existing justice and corrections buildings, and that it is the only way to relieve an overcrowded and aging jail.

What's next

The land question has to be settled before design and bidding can move ahead. Until then, the sheriff's target of a groundbreaking by the end of 2027 depends on how the dispute with the owners plays out, at the negotiating table or in court.

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