Comment on Sullivan jail too crowded to accept weekend inmates

BLOUNTVILLE — If there were a "No Vacancy" sign outside the Sullivan County Jail, it would have been flipped on months ago, at least for offenders reporting to serve weekend sentences. The county's long-overcrowded two-facility jail, designed to hold 619 inmates, has in recent weeks neared the 900 mark. And Sheriff Wayne Anderson has given written notice to County Mayor Richard Venable, all 24 members of the Sullivan County Commission and others that due to the overcrowding, inmates sentenced to serve time on weekends have been turned away, with few exceptions, since May. On Friday afternoon, Sullivan County Sheriff's Office Maj.