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| Crews Race to Finish Jail Addition |
| By suncoastpasco.tbo.com |
| Published: 07/06/2009 |
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Crews race to finish jail addition The Pasco County jail addition in Land O' Lakes could open soon. Crews recently finished much of the first-floor control room. By Carl Orth-The Suncoast News Published: June 30, 2009 NEW PORT RICHEY - It could be a race to the finish to transfer inmates from temporary quarters into the new jail addition under construction. The first two floors of the new facility at the main jail in Land O' Lakes could be ready by August, according to Frank James, Pasco County's facilities management director, at the Pasco County Public Safety Coordinating Council meeting on June 26. The temporary "tent" housing for inmates, however, is scheduled to be taken down my mid-July, Sheriff Bob White said at the public safety council meeting. The Sheriff's Office faces an additional expense of some $37,000 if the temporary quarters are needed for several more months beyond mid-July, White said. The number of inmates in temporary beds has dropped slightly this year to an average of about 221 on any given day, Sgt. Neal Berry of the Sheriff's Office reported. Last year, the average stood at 246. The two existing Pasco jails with 889 beds total still remain about 24 percent over capacity so far this year, Berry said. The addition will bring 768 extra beds for prisoners. The addition could fill up quickly since the sheriff has decided to close the New Port Richey jail as a cost-cutting move. An additional 200 inmates from the New Port Richey facility will transfer to the new addition at the Land O' Lakes jail as soon as possible, perhaps by October, White said on June 1. That will save some $3.5 million in the next budget of the Sheriff's Office, which starts Oct. 1. The New Port Richey jail will remain vacant until economic conditions improve, White said. "The contractor has really stepped up," James said Friday about the builder of the addition, Peter R. Brown Construction, a Clearwater-based firm. The county put the project, which had been in the works since 2006, on a fast track last year to try to trim several months from the construction schedule. Read more. |
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