ROCKLAND, ME - Consultants reviewing Knox County Jail for possible renovation and expansion say the number of beds required will determine what happens in all other areas of the facility. At a glance, the nearly 20-year-old facility will need its visiting and program areas revamped, said Arthur Thompson, principal of SMRT Inc. of Portland, during a meeting this week of the Knox County Jail Study Committee.

Thompson and Rod Miller, principal of CRS Inc. of Kents Hill, have been hired to develop options for Knox County to address crowding at the facility. Both companies planned and designed the current jail beginning in 1988.

For two days this week, the consultants reviewed the conditions at the jail and gathered data on inmate counts so they can come up with population forecasts.

When the jail was designed, "it was designed with expansion in mind," Thompson said. A new system of supervising inmates, called "direct supervision," calls for a different physical environment, he said.

In mid-May, the committee voted to hire a consultant to conduct a "first phase" review of the jail for which $15,000 was set aside.

Over the next few weeks, Miller will analyze inmate data to determine how many additional beds are desirable for Knox County Jail. The $5.2 million jail built in 1991 was designed to accommodate 55 inmates. In March the inmate count was 95.

The county has been grappling with what to do about the increasing inmate population and the costs for boarding prisoners at other jails, which committee member Chip Laite of Camden said will cost $600,000 this year.

"It all comes back to what the bed need is," Miller said of renovations or additions the jail will need for administration, visitation, program and kitchen areas.

Miller explained that his job is not simply a matter of counting prisoners. In designing a new facility, information must be analyzed for the number of women prisoners, classification of inmates, lengths of sentences and "peaking," when the number of inmates temporarily spikes.