Sooner Counties Follow State With Jail Spree

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma is in the midst of the largest correctional building program in its history as counties work to meet inmate population increases across the Sooner state, according to the state’s senior inspector of prisons.

In the face of rapidly rising inmate populations, the state is leading the charge to expand capacity to meet incarceration levels, and counties are following suit.

The Oklahoma Department of Corrections is set to request nearly $400 million in construction projects from the Legislature to expand capacity at the state level.

The DOC has proposed building a new prison to accommodate 2,400 inmates. State officials are also seeking a 1,500-bed expansion at the state penitentiary in McAlester and a 600-bed expansion at the Lawton correctional facility.

Architects In Partnership is in the design phase of a project to build a new jail in Pontotoc County, Okla.

The state prison population reached 25,000 inmates in 2006 and is operating at more than 98 percent capacity. The National Institute of Corrections considers an occupancy rate of 95 percent as the threshold for a correctional facility’s operational capacity.

“They’re more than full and are backing up into county jails,” says Ben Graves, senior principal with Architects In Partnership, a firm based in Norman, Okla. that specializes in designing correctional facilities.

Roughly 25 percent of the inmate population at the Oklahoma County detention center is made up of DOC prisoners.

In addition to detaining county inmates, a significant proportion of prisoners housed in county jails around the state come from overcrowded federal prisons. However, many county facilities do not meet federal guidelines for capacity or conditions.

“Counties wanted to be in compliance with federal, state and American Correctional Association standards,” says Stanley R. Lewis, RA, AIP principal.

With infrastructure dating back to the early 1930s, counties are moving to renovate or replace cramped, aging facilities that suffer from a lack of funding and cannot handle the increasing flow of inmates into county systems.

“The conditions in county jails range from atrocious to mediocre at best,” Graves says.

Architects in Partnership

Having built its reputation designing schools, AIP turned to designing correctional facilities five years ago, in the wake of significant changes to Oklahoma’s sentencing guidelines.

The firm now finds itself at the center of Oklahoma’s correctional building boom, designing multiple jail construction projects that cover six counties in the southeastern portion of the state.

During the past two years, AIP completed new jail facility projects in LeFlore and Creek counties. The 100,000-square-foot criminal justice facility in LeFlore County includes a renovated and expanded courthouse annex, a new sheriff’s office and a 180-bed jail, designed to accommodate minimum- to maximum-security levels.

The architectural firm’s $8 million, 44,405-square-foot criminal justice center in Creek County illustrates the small, but growing, trend within the corrections industry toward environmental sustainability.

A geothermal heat-pump system, which was incorporated into one of the facility designs as part of alternate bid proposals requested by the county, serves the heating and cooling requirements of the entire complex.

“We’re always looking to incorporate environmentally sustainable components, but counties have limited available funds, so generally they would have a tough time meeting the front-end costs of many green building measures,” Lewis says.

Reflecting AIP’s design approach, which is oriented to achieving efficiencies in facility construction and operations, the 300-bed Creek County detention facility also features a computerized touch-screen control system integrated into the design to enhance operational and functional management of the facility.

Additionally, AIP is in the design phase of a new jail in Pontotoc County and three other AIP design projects are under construction in Pittsburg, Haskell and McIntosh counties.

“The projects were driven by the need to replace existing facilities that were in a very dilapidated state,” Lewis says. “Jails didn’t have the holding capacity or facilities to handle the growing population.”

In Haskell County, AIP designed a $5.8 million, 22,200-square-foot criminal justice center with a 109-bed detention center, which could expand in the future to a maximum capacity of 300 inmates. The structure features a tilt-up building design that would deliver time and cost efficiencies during the construction phase, Lewis says.

The firm’s $6.9 million project in McIntosh County, which broke ground in spring 2007, consists of a 32,000-square-foot criminal justice center that will include a 143-bed jail facility, a juvenile detention area, medical facilities and a new sheriff’s office.

The $8.3 million Pontotoc County project was designed to house up to 185 inmates. The 33,000-square-foot facility will feature a courtroom, booking and visiting areas and exercise courts.

“The original facility was built to accommodate 36 prisoners, but houses more than 60 on most days,” Graves says. The existing jail was built in 1972.

Every Tuesday a judge tries to release 30 low-risk prisoners to help reduce the overcrowding, Graves says.

Pittsburg County’s existing jail facility, which was built in 1974 to accommodate 40 prisoners, now houses up to 90 inmates, officials say. A $9.7 million project, to replace the sheriff’s office, will renovate and expand the jail to a 35,000-square-foot facility capable of housing 180 inmates.

“The Pittsburg project was fairly tough because we were expanding an existing facility to triple its capacity, and we had to keep emergency systems operational,” Lewis says.

Despite the difficulties and challenges of developing projects in an industry such as corrections, AIP is set to continue playing a central role in Oklahoma’s jail-building boom. The company currently has two jail facilities in the proposal phase.

A proposed $30 million jail in Cleveland County would use a phased design-construction approach to accommodate the county’s funding constraints. The project’s 62,000-square-foot first phase would provide a 400-bed complex with courtroom facilities, booking and visiting areas, exercise areas and a full-service dining area. The second phase of construction would provide an additional 300 beds and ancillary facilities.

In Caddo County, AIP proposed a renovation and expansion of the two-story county courthouse, with the addition of a 180-bed detention center to replace the existing jail.