TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Esha Pugh's fiancé has been incarcerated at the Leon County Detention Center for nearly 9 months.
Over that time period Pugh said she has not been allowed to visit the facility due to Covid restrictions but has remained in close contact with her loved one. Pugh said when she did speak with her fiancé, he talked about lack of resources available to inmates due to overcrowding.
"It's scary when you have a loved one that's locked up. Everybody is not guilty that they put in jail. To know that you have a loved one that's inside of there and they possibly don't come home," said Pugh.
She said she has sent thousands of dollars to her fiancé just to ensure he was receiving items for his basic needs such as food, underwear, and toiletries.
"Nobody deserves to be treated like they're not human," said Pugh.
Now, Leon County commissioner Bill Proctor is calling on Leon County sheriff Walt McNeil to make big changes in the Leon County Detention Center.
After paying a visit to the facility last Friday, Proctor said the issues he noticed during his visit were overcrowding with many of the inmates dealing with mental health issues.
Proctor claiming 40% of the jail population has mental illness.
"Then you got a keg of dynamite here at this hospital which this facility is not equipped and is under resourced and it doesn't have the credentials and it is exactly what it is doing," said commissioner Proctor.
He is now calling on sheriff McNeil to come up with a plan to address the issues the center is facing before it's too late.
"This is a dangerous situation with all levels of mentalities coexisting in the same place and I'm asking for better," said commissioner Proctor.
McNeil feels the answer is simple. In order to completely rid the facility of ongoing issues they are in need of more staff but have already put a plan in motion to get that done.
"We're going to colleges; we have recruiters now that we didn't have previously. We're going all across our region to get people to come in for professional corrections," said sheriff McNeil.
