{"id":526267,"date":"2026-01-19T00:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T00:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/526267\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T00:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T00:18:13","slug":"dallas-county-jail-still-closed-3-years-after-selma-tornado-sheriff-raises-concerns-about-delays-and-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/526267\/","title":{"rendered":"Dallas County Jail still closed 3 years after Selma tornado, sheriff raises concerns about delays and costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

DALLAS COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA<\/a>) – Three years after an EF-2 tornado tore through Selma and caused major damage to the Dallas County Jail, the facility remains closed, with little visible progress toward reopening.<\/p>\n

WSFA 12 News toured the jail this week on the anniversary of the January 2023 tornado and found a facility still without electricity, damaged gates, and no inmates housed inside.<\/p>\n

At the time of the storm, the jail was actively housing inmates when the tornado struck. Sheriff Mike Granthum says despite significant flooding and power loss inside the building, all inmates were safely evacuated without serious injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had almost 300 inmates in our jail at that time when that tornado hit,\u201d Granthum said. \u201cNot a single injury. We passed out one Band-Aid. That was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the storm, inmates were transported to jails across Alabama, some hundreds of miles away, and the Dallas County Jail has remained unusable ever since.<\/p>\n

Repairs stalled despite partial work<\/b><\/p>\n

Granthum says while the roof was partially repaired shortly after the tornado to prevent additional water damage, work beyond that has largely stalled.<\/p>\n

Walking through the jail now, rusted metal, damaged interior spaces, and unfinished areas remain visible \u2014 conditions the sheriff says have changed very little over the past several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nobody out here working,\u201d Granthum said. \u201cNo drills, no sawing \u2014 we\u2019re just at a standstill.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sheriff says the Dallas County Commission owns the jail building and is responsible for overseeing repairs. According to Granthum, delays tied to insurance claims have slowed the process significantly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no plan. There are no steps being taken to expedite that process,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the reason for that is dealing with insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Millions Spent, Jail Still Not Operational<\/b><\/p>\n

According to the sheriff, more than $17 million has already been spent related to the jail since the tornado, yet the facility remains far from reopening.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Dallas County continues to absorb the cost of transporting inmates and housing them in other counties across the state. Granthum says those ongoing expenses are pulling money away from what was intended to rebuild the jail itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we\u2019re doing is spending money transporting inmates \u2014 gas, fuel, overtime,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s money that\u2019s supposed to go to brick and mortar.\u201d<\/p>\n

Granthum also notes the financial strain extends beyond county budgets. Families with incarcerated loved ones must now travel long distances to visit them \u2014 often hours away \u2014 creating an added burden.<\/p>\n

Concerns about long-term impact<\/b><\/p>\n

The sheriff says his growing concern is that prolonged delays could eventually place a financial burden on Dallas County residents if additional funding is needed to complete the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want answers, and I want to be able to tell the people what the plan is,\u201d Granthum said.<\/p>\n

There is still no timeline for when the Dallas County Jail will reopen. While bids to complete the remaining work have been submitted, officials say progress remains dependent on resolving insurance issues.<\/p>\n

Not reading this story on the WSFA News App? Get news alerts FASTER and FREE in the Apple App Store<\/a> and the Google Play Store<\/a>! <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WSFA. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS COUNTY, Ala. (WSFA) – Three years after an EF-2 tornado tore through Selma and caused major damage…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":526268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,18485,1596,7290,233695,233696,5333,14429,358,233697,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,313,53737,53736,65359],"class_list":{"0":"post-526267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-anniversary","10":"tag-dallas","11":"tag-dallas-county","12":"tag-ef-2-tornado","13":"tag-granthum","14":"tag-jail","15":"tag-selma","16":"tag-texas","17":"tag-three-years","18":"tag-tx","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-weather","26":"tag-wfsa","27":"tag-wsfa","28":"tag-wsfa-12-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115918897416063525","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}