The DeKalb County Commission is now taking another look at expanding the current DeKalb County Jail facility on its current location, as well as other options. The move came following feedback from a question-and-answer session at the last jail committee meeting on April 7.

With many opposing proposed locations on Smith Road and the Robinson Road area, the Jail Committee is now looking at getting an estimated cost of expanding on property at the current site. But, after Monday’s County Commission meeting, the commission seems to be damned if they do, and damned if they don’t, after there was pushback over the proposed expansion.

The committee had already been given an estimate on building on the current site, but that estimate was for a justice center with courtrooms, which included the demolition of the current buildings at the location. A new plan would involve only expanding the jail to the east or south of the current facility.

During last Thursday’s commission workshop meeting, Jail Committee Chairman Larry Green announced a proposal of having the architect and construction company come up with a new plan for building only a jail and sheriff’s department complex, up to three levels on the existing site and to remodel the jail annex.

With a three-story facility, Commissioner Green said the first floor could be for kitchen and laundry facilities, conference rooms, etc., with the sheriff’s department administration headquartered on the second floor. The third floor would be for inmate housing.

Prisoners would remain housed in the current jail annex while new construction is underway on the east end of the facility near the sally port. After the new jail is completed, work could begin on remodeling the jail annex to bring it up to codes and TCI standards. Commissioner Green said Treanor Architects and Bell Construction would develop the plan at no cost to the county.

“After the last jail meeting, I contacted the architect and the contractor and what I have asked them to do is take a look at our current jail and see if there is anything we can do to bring it up to TCI standards and how many beds we can get out of it and what the cost is,” said Commissioner Green

“The idea is to look at the piece of property we own right beside the jail (east side),” Green continued. “Once you know how many beds we can get out of the current jail (jail annex) then we may be able to cut down on the number of new beds next door. We would still have to build some new things like a new kitchen. You’ll need a conference room to educate the prisoners, have ministers come in and have church services, still behind locked doors. Ministers could come in and talk to them. You could have classes for prisoners and things like that. We would probably still wind up with a three-story jail with all this stuff on the bottom floor, the sheriff’s department administration on the second floor and inmates on the third floor. They could still build in the recreation room and everything we need for it,” said Green.

During Monday’s meeting, there was some local business owners on hand that spoke during public comments.

Randy Caldwell of the Purple Door in downtown Smithville spoke at the meeting, saying he is opposed to jail expansion on the square. “This is a bad idea for downtown,” Caldwell said. “Marketing strategist will tell you that to have a vibrant downtown … it needs to be retail, restaurants, entertainment, and uses that generate revenue within the district. A jail is not an appropriate use.”

Ken Fennell also spoke at the meeting, saying, “As a business owner, my wife and I don’t think having the jail downtown is a great idea. I’ve been in construction for over 30 years. I’ve done several billion dollars’ worth of work. The first price you see is a bogey; it’s a best-case scenario; it’s the Jedi mind trick of numbers. Retrofitting something so antiquated and so old takes a lot of money.” 

In the end, the commission voted to explore three different plans to get a general cost estimate to make an informed decision. First, the county voted to get an estimated plan for building on the current property with retrofitting the Jail Annex to bring it up to standards.

The second plan, is the same as the first, but with an estimate considering if the county purchased adjoining property owned by the Kirby family to the east of the Jail Annex.

A third option is for an estimate on building a one-story facility on a greenspace, or property not at the current site. The hopes would be that the commission can compare the three options and look at what the best plan of action would be.