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| New Jail Could Cost $390M or More |
| By kjrh.com |
| Published: 07/16/2009 |
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New Oklahoma County jail could cost $390M or more OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - A new jail could cost Oklahoma County more than $390 million, and renovating the facility that has been troubled by inmate escapes, suicides and violent clashes among inmates could cost even more, architects told county officials Wednesday. An architectural firm hired by the county told commissioners a new 3,376-bed jail built on a 50-acre site would cost an estimated $391 million and require at least 300 new jail employees. Officials with Frankfurt-Short-Bruza also told commissioners that renovating and expanding the nearly 20-year-old jail would cost about $436 million and require about 400 additional employees. "It's certainly significant numbers, significantly more than we anticipated," Oklahoma County Commissioner Ray Vaughn said. "We always talked about the possible renovation and annex costing somewhere around $120 million. This obviously blows that number right out of the ball park." The 13-story building in downtown Oklahoma City has had problems since it was built in 1991. Within a year, at least a half dozen inmates escaped by pushing out decorative glass blocks and using bed sheets to climb down brick walls. But the push for major upgrades grew after the U.S. Justice Department issued a scathing report on the facility last year. The report, which cited lax supervision, inmate violence and excessive force by guards, threatened a federal lawsuit if a resolution wasn't reached. Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel, who manages the jail, said major changes have been made since the report was released, including increased training for officers and more scrutiny on every incident involving force. But Whetsel conceded the facility's design is not ideal for housing the more than 2,200 inmates kept there. Curtiss Pulitzer, an architect hired by FSB who specializes in the design of jail facilities, agreed with Whetsel. "Physically, the place is clean and they run it well," he said, "but the staffing needs are just tremendous because it's a poorly designed facility." Pulitzer said the housing units are not designed to allow direct supervision of inmates by jail staff, who instead monitor inmates from control rooms where it's difficult to see and interact with prisoners. "Direct supervision results in much calmer institutions with fewer assaults on staff, fewer assaults on inmates, just a better operation all around," Pulitzer said Read More. |
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