Corrections

The Putnam County Justice Center, opened in 1993, is a 133,795 square-foot facility that incorporates the Courthouse, Sheriff’s Office, and Putnam County Jail. The Jail has a capacity of 252 beds for both male and female inmates, which includes approximately 32 female beds. Currently, we are housing both sentenced and pretrial inmates who were arrested by local and state authorities. The inmate population averages 400 with additional female inmates housed in other counties. The jail population is managed through indirect supervision.   

The Putnam County Jail, under the direction of Major Tim Nash, Jail Administrator, and Capt. Phil Arms, Assistant Jail Administrator, has a total of 54 corrections and workhouse deputies. It houses an average of 100 state inmates and the remainder of the population is pretrial and sentenced county inmates. These include but are not limited to persons arrested in Putnam County, including the City of Cookeville. In addition, those persons arrested by the Algood Police Department, Baxter Police Department, Monterey Police Department, Tennessee Highway Patrol, and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency within Putnam County are brought to the Putnam County Jail for processing. 

 The revenue generated by inmates comes from state inmates, housing juvenile offenders, inmate phone system, and facility commissary sales, and medical co-pay system, which help offset the budget.

Corrections Officers fingerprint ALL persons arrested and processed at the Putnam County Jail. Currently, we use a Live Scan Fingerprint system which produces forensic-quality fingerprint records by electronically scanning and capturing live fingerprints. Traditionally ink fingerprinting methods are subject to smudging, smearing, and over or under inking during the rolling process. The Live Scan system consistently produces clear, classifiable fingerprints that are of higher quality than inked prints. 

The Putnam County Jail has various programs that we are immensely proud of and will continue to the best of our ability. They are as follows:

• Trustees Program – Male and Female Work Crews
• GED Program
• God’s Jail Ministry – a faith-based group comprised of members of local area churches
• Celebrate Recovery – teaches life skills; how to cope outside of jail
• Alcoholic Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous Treatment programs
• Parenting Classes through Tennessee Voices for Children