The city of

Newnan has decided that it's no longer feasible to stay

in the jail business.

That's the

word Coweta County Sheriff Mike Yeager, who asked the

County Commission to consider a proposal to jail the

city's prisoners in the county's facility.

Currently,

the county jail houses Newnan's female inmates, since it

does not have a women's facility. But Yeager was recently

approached by city officials about housing all the city's

prisoners.

Yeager said

the city's jail population floats between eight and 12

prisoners and the county jail could accommodate the extra

load.

The sheriff

also referred to a section of the Official Code of

Georgia that allows municipalities to charge an

additional 10 percent on fines and bonds that would be

sent to the county to help defray the costs of the

additional prisoners.

"We

don't get anything now, so I'm all for it," he said.

Yeager said

the city would handle all the security of bringing the

prisoners to the jail. The city also would be responsible

for any emergency medical care the prisoners would need

before being incarcerated.

Yeager said

he checked with surrounding governments and used some of

their agreements with cities to draft a policy for Coweta

County and Newnan. County attorney Mitch Powell finalized

the agreement and the commissioners gave their unanimous

support to it.