SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Marc Bell says if he’s elected as Sangamon County Sheriff in Tuesday’s election, there are some things he wants to tackle right away that he’s not so sure incumbent Sheriff Paula Crouch would take care of.

Bell tells the WTAX Morning Newswatch he needs to work to improve the safety of both jail employees, and inmates.

“My first thing is to get the jail in compliance.  It’s been out of compliance for years,” Bell alleged.  “Doors that don’t lock properly.  It is a jail.  Elevators that don’t work properly.  The lack of staffing.  There’s plumbing issues where some of the cells are uninhabitable…things like that.”

Bell admits he’s never run a jail before, but otherwise his law enforcement experience is as good as anyone’s, including incumbent Paula Crouch.

There is one other problem, as Bell sees it — the fact that Republicans have run the Sheriff’s Department for as long as anyone can remember, despite the theory that laws have to be enforced regardless of political affiliation.

“(Voters) reached out to me because they wanted a change in the way the sheriff’s office has been run for the better part of 205 years,” said Bell.  “We had one Democrat, back in 1974, for one term.  For the most part, the office has been run by the Republican Party.”

Bell says after Jack Campbell resigned in the wake of the shooting death of Sonya Massey, he was one of the dozen candidates considered to replace him, but claims you wouldn’t have known that because of a lack of transparency.

Bell is a former Illinois State Trooper who has been working for the Ball-Chatham School District.  Bell withdrew from the race prior to the primary election in March, but got back in after he says division within the Democrat Party was cleared up.

Crouch was also interviewed by CapitolCityNow.  CLICK HERE to listen to the full interview with Crouch, or click the link in the second paragraph to hear the full interview with Bell.