New jail to cost nearly $10 million; changes to building get green light

There are too many inmates and too little space, according to District 3 County Commissioner Randy Crone.

The existing Pittsburg County Jail has 2,704 square feet of space and houses 60 inmates. Renovations on the jail, which began in Dec. 2005, will increase its size to 9,000 square feet — enough room for 167 inmates.

The new building being built near the old jail has a single-story layout that wraps around a two-story pod. Inmates will be housed inside the pod in either seven by 11 cells with a roommate, or a in a dorm-style cell made for 24 that is 2,000 square feet.

Raised security towers will allow two guards to monitor inmates without having to walk around inside the pod with the inmates. The towers are networked together by the same computer system.

“If a guard has to do something, he can notify the other and that guard can take over his tower until he returns. Everything will be push-button,” Crone said.

On Wednesday, the Pittsburg County Economic Development Authority approved changes to the original plans.

Plans originally called for two exercise yards, according to Crone. Instead the area set aside for one of them will be used to build another dorm. The authority is composed of the three Pittsburg County commissioners.

The original plan was set to cost about $8 million, but with the addition of the extra dorm, officials say that has ballooned to about $9.7 million. “The money will come out of the $20 million bond passed,” District 2 County Commissioner Kevin Smith said.

According to Tom Simon, project superintendent for Bixby-based Atlas Construction Inc., work on the jail will not be finished until January 2009.

Sometime within the next 90 days, inmates will be moved from the old jail to one of a new pods while workers upgrade the old facility.

Simon said the old building will be renovated so it can be used to house women prisoners.

Meanwhile, the administration office is set to be torn down and the cleared space will be turned into a parking lot. A new administration building will be built with more office space, Smith said.

Other features of the new facility will include a medical unit with its own exam room.

There will be a court room in the new building and judges offices. Officials say this will dramatically cut down on the number of inmates who now must be transported to the Pittsburg County Courthouse for various court appearances.

“The only thing they will have to go for is preliminary hearings and injunctions,” said Crone.

A three-quarter cent sales tax was passed in October 2005 for renovation of the Pittsburg County Courthouse, renovations at the Pittsburg County jail and a new animal shelter.

Contact Sarah McCauley at 421-2024 or send e-mail to smccauley@mcalesternews.com.