LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville's new jail director said in order to solve the problems plaguing Metro Corrections, there should be "fundamental" changes in how the community thinks about incarcerated people.

Jerry Collins, the jail commander of the Clark County jail in Jeffersonville, will take over Metro Corrections on April 4. 

"The more folks we get involved, the easy we're going to fix these problems," Collins said in an interview Wednesday. "The jail becomes the biggest detox center in the county. It becomes the biggest mental health facility in the county."

The first issue Collins plans to address is how often drugs are getting inside Louisville's jail. He said antiquated equipment in scanning mail is at least partly to blame. Secondly, he believes the city needs to expand mental health services for inmates and officers.

Eight people have died inside Louisville's jail since early December. A slew of investigations remains ongoing into the causes of the deaths and how they can be prevented in the future.

Current director Dwayne Clark announced his retirement in mid-March as the investigations mounted.

Collins is a U.S. Army veteran who previously worked for Metro Corrections for more than two decades before retiring in October 2021.

"Jerry has the vast experience and skillset to lead the Corrections staff," Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement. "He knows our community, he knows LMPD, having worked his way up through every position there, and is considered an innovative thinker with an extensive background in training. He has both the skills and the passion needed in this time of challenge."

Collins initially joined Metro Corrections as an officer in 2000 and worked his way up to major, overseeing operations and training, when he left for Clark County. Collins said he and the previous administration at Metro Corrections did not always see eye-to-eye.

"Everyone has different ideas on how to do things," he said. "Obviously, people have different ideas, but it was a difficult time coming through the pandemic and civil unrest and we might have lost our way a little bit."

Fischer called for an investigation following the inmate deaths, but the Council wanted an independent investigator to look into issues at the jail. Clark is also named in a lawsuit, that's expected to cost the city millions of dollars, claiming inmates were improperly detained at the jail too long after they were supposed to be released.

The suit alleges that, since at least 2012, Clark knew that problems in the jail's records department were causing unlawful detainment but did little about it, describing a "laissez faire" attitude about the issue.

Clark oversaw the records unit and had no policy that late releases be reported or explained to him, attorneys said in court records. Clark testified that while thousands of inmates are booked into jail each year, he believed maybe 10 or fewer were people being held too long.

Before taking on the role as director following the 2019 retirement of former director Mark Bolton, Clark had worked as the jail's chief of staff since 2009. He began working at the jail in July 2004 as deputy director after working in the Illinois Department of Corrections for nearly 25 years, according to the mayor's office.

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