Shortly after taking office in 2009, Marion County Sheriff Rob Craft pushed to have a fence constructed around an exercise yard for jail inmates.

State law requires inmates receive at least an hour of natural light each day. Because the jail didn’t have internal space that met the requirement, inmates were taken outdoors without a fence.

That spring, the county commission approved building a chain-link fence topped by strands of barbed wire. But for some people, that isn’t enough, Craft said recently. He said people have complained to him about inmates being able to see people walking by the jail.

Craft said that if a new jail weren’t planned, he would support installing privacy slats in the fence. But with a new jail in the works, he thinks it would be a waste of money.

County Clerk Carol Maggard is getting prices for different products to block inmates’ line of sight. The materials aren’t expensive, and she said jail inmates might be able to install them.