Article: Hall County: A new, less costly jail

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A new, less costly jail

By Tracy Overstreet
tracy.overstreet@theindependent.com
Publication Date: 07/13/05




Hall County's scaled-back jail plan will cost $50 a year instead of $90 a year for the owner of a $100,000 home.

That information was included in a new jail proposal presented to the Hall County Board of Supervisors during its regular meeting Tuesday.

That $50 annual cost is based on the "worst-case scenario," said bond consultant Dan Smith from Omaha firm Kirkpatrick Pettis.

He used the 2004-05 property valuation numbers and increased it by 5.5 percent -- an increase that he felt was very conservative.

If the county's valuation exceeds $2.9 billion, the share for each property owner will be less than the amount Smith quoted to supervisors Tuesday. The bond cost will also go down over the 25-year estimated bond life as county valuation increases, Smith said.

Board Chairwoman Pam Lancaster said the overall cost of the jail project has dropped from $28 million to $22 million, not including bonding costs. The proposed $28 million jail -- presented in a nearly $30 million bond election last November -- was rejected by 54 percent of voters casting ballots.

Under the original jail proposal, the owner of a $100,000 home would have paid an additional $90 a year for the first five years of the bond. After five years, the cost would have gone down to $30 a year on that same property as the county would have absorbed the bond cost within its regular general budget.

Smith said the previous bond's triple-payment plan for the first five years is no longer needed because the Legislature now allows counties to pay for capital projects over 30 years instead of five. However, even with the 30-year authority, Smith said bond markets favor a more traditional 25-year schedule.

The scaled-back jail totals nearly 87,000 square feet. It would be built on county-owned land on Highway 30 just east of the elevated Burlington-Northern Santa Fe Railroad tracks.

The city/county Public Safety Center will be built on the same 26-acre property -- but east of the jail site, said architect Joseph Haines of Omaha-based DLR Group. The campus will effectively become a brand new, singular focused property for those doing business with the judicial branch, he said.

The jail itself has two main components, said architect O.H. Martin Berglund of DLR.

The administrative area is square-shaped and located nearest to the city/county Public Safety Center. It has space for jail offices, correction officer locker space, booking, inmate medical, kitchen, laundry and mechanical space.

The administrative wing also has a video visitation area from which all visitations with members of the public will be conducted. Face-to-face visitations will be eliminated in favor of visitations over video monitors. That will reduce chances of contraband getting in and reduce the need to move inmates from their cells.

The administrative area also has a video courtroom from which inmates will make their initial appearances and arraignments.

"There's very little inmate movement," Haines said.

While no-contact visitation rooms will become the common practice, the architects said four direct-contact rooms will still be available for attorneys and clergy members to meet with inmates.

The work release dormitories will also be located with the administrative area on the south side of the building, leaving the possibility of expanding work release in the future.

From the administrative area, the jail's master control room has a clear line of site into the hexagon-shaped inmate housing area, which sits closest to the railroad tracks.

"It's important we have the building sit far enough back from the property line to have a security buffer," Berglund said.

Male medium security cells are located on the east side of the hexagon, based on a direct supervision concept with corrections officers in a common dayroom with the inmates. Inmate cells are stacked on two levels on the outside walls of the dayroom.

Female and maximum-security cells are located on the west side of the hexagon, operating under a modified direct supervision method. Corrections officers can watch the inmate dayrooms from a centralized tower.

The core of the hexagon is reserved for inmate recreation and program space. Taking the inmates outdoors, which led to an escape from the Hall County jail earlier this year, will no longer occur.

"It's a staff-efficient and safe environment," Haines said. "The people who work in the jail are there longer than any inmate."

About $500,000 of the $22 million jail project is for remodeling parts of the existing jail to become a holding cell for inmates being taken to more lengthy hearings or trials at the Hall County Courthouse.

Corrections Director Dave Arnold said the current jail was built in three phases in 1904, 1948 and 1978 and all sections were grandfathered in under Nebraska Jail Standards, which were passed in 1980.

If the current jail was remodeled to meet those standards, the 125-bed certification would have to be reduced to 80 beds. The jail's average daily population typically exceeds 100 inmates.

He worries that the jail will fall out of compliance with facility codes and life/safety codes and leaves Hall County potentially open to lawsuits for overcrowding, inmate living conditions and corrections officer working conditions.

Nearly 20 county, city and state employees, along with nongovernmental community leaders, sat through Tuesday's presentation, which was followed by a jail tour.

Nov. 15 has been set as the date for an election on the new jail bond proposal.

Proposed jail size

Area Size

Housing lower level 38,400 sq. ft.

Housing mezzanine level 9,400 sq. ft.

Support component 39,000 sq. ft.

Total 86,800 sq. ft.

Proposed jail bed count

Classification Bed count

Male maximum security 30 beds (single bunked)

Male medium security 120 beds (double bunked)

Male minimum security 72 beds (dormitory)

Female maximum security 6 beds (single bunked)

Female medium security 24 beds (double bunked)

Female minimum security 12 beds (dormitory)

Male work release 24 beds (dormitory)

Female work release 8 beds (dormitory)

Total 296 beds

Proposed jail cost

Site acquisition $0

Site development $1,123,000

Building construction cost $15,550,675

Professional fees $1,807,500

Fixtures, furnishings, equipment $817,500

Inflation, contingency, other 2,536,195

Total project cost $21,834,870

Bond costs for the taxpayer

Bond issue size $22,095,000

Estimated first-year levy (2006-07) $0.049

Annual payments

Property valued at Annually Monthly

$75,000 $36.75 $3.06

$100,000 $49 $4.08

$125,000 $61.25 $5.10

Costs of other options

Current operating cost of the Hall County jail $3 million a year

Estimated cost to operate a remodeled jail (80 beds) $4 million a year Estimated cost to shut down the jail and transfer inmates elsewhere $6 million a year