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Contegrity, the county's jail construction management firm and Klein McCarthy Architects report the cost to continue to use the county jail site for holding cells requires work inside the building estimated at $3.7 million. There's costs for moving the 911 center elsewhere while the structure is rebuilt. There are costs for doing work to house and process/sort prisoners at the courthouse too. The county has gotten an estimate of about $10 million that needs to be spent to use the old jail for 72-hour holds on top of costs to board-out out inmates.

The main structure

The 30-year-old county jail building needs to be gutted and re-done to become a large intake facility with the capability to hold an average of 12 offenders for 72 hours.

There are exterior improvements required to the existing building as well and the county also uses an old structure adjacent to the jail known as the "telephone building" which requires an estimated $200,000 in work for mold abatement and structural needs. The jail is on lakeshore that would need an approximate $200,000 in stabilization work done to shore-up the parking lot and lake side of the building.

The courts and government center areas need construction work done to create secure spaces as part of this holding cell approach.

Cost estimates are based on a per-square-foot evaluation and a more exact budget would come if the work went to bids.

To retrofit the existing jail facility is a 12 month project during which the county will need to relocate 911 communications and other jail-related functions while the construction crews are on site.

The Courts portion of the Government Center should be able to secure offenders in a "group" setting and individual detention for more serious offenders. Four group cells and 10 single cells would have to be added to courts. Without a jail site to organize and process persons in custody-- the construction team estimates about $2.6 million to build an area where detained persons can be held for court appearances. Usual "in custody" cases, awaiting a Monday morning court calendar call judge, will number about 12 to 15.

Also, if the county renovates the old jail, dispatchers would have to relocate, and there'd be about $3 million in costs for a communications and dispatch facility to be leased and equipped for the interim.

There's also an unknown cost to area police departments in Wyoming, Lakes Area and North Branch, who wouldn't have a Center City jail to secure initial arrestees. The expense to police departments which would have to leave their jurisdictions for long periods of time transporting elsewhere hasn't been calculated.

One of several problems with the existing jail is that the state standard for square footage required for cells is not being met. Current jail size is 66 and 68 square feet for two inmates. The standard is 50 square feet per inmate. The group dayroom is also smaller than state standards for the jail population.

For safety of the inmates the standards require living areas that are constructed "to facilitate continuous staff observation." The design of the existing jail doesn't allow that. A 2005 pre-architectural report concludes, "Proper supervision of inmate activities while they are in their housing units is not possible."

For booking, the county can handle one inmate at a time. This results in "backing inmates up and delaying arresting officers from returning to the streets," according to analysis on procedures. There's also no interviewing room available, no place for officers to complete reports and storage is in the basement, so for intake or release an officer goes to the basement to retrieve or store belongings of an offender.

State standards also mandate seven hours of exercise per inmate per week. The county now has a small fenced-in basketball hoop court where the jail administrative trailer is also parked.

Programming space for counselors to meet with inmates, or for inmates to join in group sessions like GED classes is non-existent.

The state corrections standards call for six visitation booths. The county jail makes due now with two.

There is no seperate medical room for exams or storage.

There are no fire sprinklers in the jail except for the Huber Release portions. Laundry is sent out.

Jail Administrator Brandon Thyen's report to the County Board in January 2007 also explains the mechanical systems of the jail and their shortcomings. Thyen said if the county continues to use the structure for another five to 10 years there are "tremendous" costs associated with this. Heating, cooling and roofing all need replacement.

Even the security systems are approaching their end of useful life. "Jail door locks have been operational for 29 years, they wear out and are beyond that point now." Parts are getting impossible to find, he added.

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