Design plans for Warren County Jail expansion received initial approval from county officials on Friday.
Upland Design Group architect Allen Hill, who presented preliminary drawings to members of the county Building and Grounds Committee and county Corrections Partnership Committee, said bid documents should be ready in early July and project completion is slated for January 2019.
“Looking at the site, we felt the best area for expansion was at the end of the building because there’s an existing corridor,” said Hill. “By extending that corridor out, we felt that was the most cost-effective way to add onto the facility.”
The proposed addition will have four, two-level cell blocks with dayroom areas that would house up to 80 males and 48 females. There would be a separate minimum security area for 12 males and six females, a medical area for up to 12 males and six females, a separate entrance/ exit for work crew trustees and weekend commits, laundry area, medical area, and it would be designed to allow future expansion.
The existing jail houses 251. The expansion would bring total inmate space to 415.
“There is a little bit of a fluff in there because TCI may not certify those as beds because they won’t be used unless an inmate is sick,” said Hill. “It’s a little bit of a gray area if those will be certified beds or not.”
If not allowed, the maximum inmate space would be 397.
Hill presented a breakdown of estimated cost. Total estimated construction cost is slightly more than $6 million. The county has earmarked $6.5 million.
“We didn’t want to use the entire $6.5 million on the expansion,” said Hill. “We wanted to save some funds for renovation of the existing building. Renovation is not included in these plans.”
While Building and Grounds Committee members unanimously approved Upland Design Group moving forward and having the project ready to bid in July, some members of the County Corrections Partnership Committee voiced a desire to wait until after the county elections.
“We may not be here next year,” said Commissioner Carl D. Bouldin. “We may get defeated in our re-election bid. There’s one thing for sure, we are going to have a new county executive and a new sheriff. We are five months away from a new election. I think it would be good for the new county executive and the new sheriff to have input on this.”
Commissioner Carl E. Bouldin, chair of Building and Grounds, disagreed.
“I think we need to move forward with the jail expansion,” he said. “Whomever the new sheriff is, he’s going to be thankful this project is underway.”
Sheriff Jackie Matheny confirmed the new sheriff will be thankful.
“As of yesterday, we had 324 inmates,” said Matheny. “The state took 20 over the last month. We’ve been struggling to keep it under 350. If we go over 350, the state could shut us down. They’ve told us that 350 is our limit. If we go over that, they will step in and the county will pay the price.”
The county has been under the watchful eye of the state due to long-standing overcrowding.
“This plan is based on what the state says you need to do,” said Hill.
With Building and Grounds Committee approval, Upland Design Group will move past the preliminary design phase. Upland was asked to include a courtroom space in the design plans, present that for approval, and include it in the bid documents as an alternate.
