Plans to Open ‘Jail North’ Highlight Strain at Uptown Detention Center

The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that it plans to reopen the jail in north Charlotte, unused for detention purposes since 2022, due to “historic overcrowding” in the Uptown facility, where hundreds of inmates are being housed in overflow areas and utilizing temporary, Stack-a-Bunk sleeping arrangements. 

Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden hopes to begin moving inmates over in early August. 

“To maintain the safety and security of our staff, residents, and the community, we must take immediate action to address the growing population inside Detention Center Central,” McFadden said in a release on Tuesday. 

“As we move into the summer months — when crime tends to increase — reopening Detention Center North is a necessary step to help manage the overcrowding while we continue working through these ongoing challenges,” he continued. 

According to Tuesday’s release, the population inside the Uptown jail had reached 2,084 as of Monday and continues to rise “dramatically,” with 288 residents housed in overflow areas.

In a video released in April, McFadden warned that “the pressure is building” at the Uptown jail. He blamed the overcrowding in part on House Bill 307, known as Iryna’s Law, which has led to an increasing number of people being held in the jail for lower-level charges.

On Tuesday, MCSO added that approximately 60 inmates who had already been sentenced to state prison remained at the Uptown jail awaiting transfer to Department of Adult Correction facilities. In some cases, residents have remained at Central for around three months after being sentenced, according to the release. 

Sheriff Garry McFadden closed the juvenile detention facility known as Jail North in 2022, citing staffing shortages tied to operations at the Uptown jail. At the time, it was the state’s largest juvenile detention center, with a capacity for up to 72 juveniles. The building has since been used for administrative offices and training, but no one is housed there.

A letter sent by the National Association for Upward Mobility to MCSO in late April demanded solutions to troubling conditions some inmates had reported at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center Central (MCDCC) in Uptown.

The letter raised concerns about reports from three men being held in the Uptown jail who said they were forced to sleep on the floor of the facility despite suffering from major medical issues ranging from severe arthritis, hernia and heart conditions to diabetes, obesity and geriatric ailments. The letter also claimed the detention center ran out of toilet paper on April 25.

In a video released by the MCSO on April 29, Major Anthony Durrah, facility commander at MCDCC, claims that the conditions described in letter are “not accurate.”

According to Durrah, none of the inmates at sleep “on the floor,” though some do sleep on what are called Stack-A-Bunks, temporary sleeping surfaces that are raised about 8 inches off the ground. He also denied that the facility had run out of toilet paper.

As reported at the time by Rachel Crumpler with NC Health News, McFadden insisted in January that MCSO was unable to reopen the facility for juveniles, claiming it would take 96 detention officers, plus staffing for health care, food service and other support.

“Where are we going to get the resources?” McFadden asked at a juvenile justice forum in Charlotte, emphasizing that he’s still struggling to fill dozens of vacant jobs at the Uptown jail as it had already begun seeing a surge in detainee population after Iryna’s Law took effect in Dec. 1, 2025. 

“Where are we going to get the funding? But the main part that we have to understand is this: How are we going to hire 96 people? Where are we going to get 96 people from?” McFadden asked.

In Thursday’s release, MCSO announced plans to immediately roll out an “aggressive hiring initiative” that they hope leads to hiring as many as 50 detention officers to help with the Jail North reopening. The initiative will offer starting annual salaries beginning at $68,000 with a $7,500 sign-on bonus. 

A preliminary report from a state-funded research group provided to state lawmakers on April 1 identified “key pressure points that need to be addressed” to fully implement Iryna’s Law, including constraints on the legal system. 

“North Carolina is undertaking one of the most significant overhauls of its mental health and criminal justice systems in decades, with [Iryna’s Law] introducing changes with substantial operational, fiscal and public safety implications,” said the report, published by the NC Collaboratory, a multi-disciplinary research group based at UNC Chapel Hill.

Lawmakers have allocated more than $2 million for more assistant district attorneys and legal assistants in Mecklenburg County, but McFadden has repeatedly complained that no new funding has been provided to help ease the strain on his jail. 

Read more: Sheriff’s Office Responds to Complaints Involving Conditions in Uptown Jail

The proposed Mecklenburg County budget for Fiscal Year 2026-27 includes $5.3 million in new funding to support medical services, maintenance, juvenile housing and overtime to serve an increased jail population. 

A public hearing on the proposed budget is scheduled for tonight at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center at 6 p.m., with a vote expected from the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners on June 2.