A renovation project aimed at increasing the security and safety of correction officers booking inmates at the Butler County Justice Center is under way.
Plans call for the booking area to be expanded and made more secure and at least three more holding/medical observation cells to be added.
"Anything we do to improve the jail is always geared toward safety and security," explained Butler County Sheriff Mark Dobbs. "I've often scratched my head and wondered why the jail was designed the way that it was, but really all I can do is to find ways to add to the security and proper functionality."
Dobbs believes the county's jail was "built at a time when new jails were a new concept.
"It was built in an age when modern technology was being applied and factored into the design versus the old iron bars that older jails consisted of."
One of the areas identified as needing improvement is the booking area due to its limited space, said Dobbs.
"It's a highly confined space, as well as it doesn't have enough holding cells or medical observation cells," he said.
The jail currently has three cells used for holding and/or medical observation.
Dobbs said the "close quarters" between the correction officer and the inmate being booked is unsafe.
"Basically, when you are booking in an inmate, you are right on top of each other, so to speak, which is unsafe," Dobbs said.
That, he said, is the way it has been since the justice center opened in 1997.
"As it is now, and has been over the past 20 years, there have been many times the booking officer has been attacked during the booking process," Dobbs said.
The sheriff's department and jail, he said, needs twice as many employees as it has, but "we realize that is not a reality," Dobbs said.
Therefore, he said, efforts are being made to "streamline the technology in the building" to provide better security for the correction officers.
"Now that we've been able to do away with our face-to-face visitation with the video visitation technology, it's freed up a great deal of space," the sheriff said.
Until February 2016, visitation used to take place through Plexiglas with both the inmate and his or her visitor talking via a phone from one of four stations.
The video visitation is done via a TV monitor and web-based. Two monitors are available in the lobby, but visitation may also be done at home via the internet.
The change in visitation will "allow us to expand the booking area for the booking officer, as well as provide additional holding and medical observation cells ... from three to six, possibly seven," said Dobbs.
It's important to note, Dobbs said, that when he became sheriff 13 years ago the average population was 60 to 70 inmates.
Now, it ranges anywhere from 120 to 140 on a daily basis, he said.
"There are many things that have to be considered from a liability point of view as well as security," Dobbs said "Many of the inmates we receive are suicidal, and a vast majority of the inmates we get in our jail are medical train wrecks, which require close observation."
Thus far, Dobbs said, the inside perimeter of the booking area has been expanded, and a concrete wall, with a metal door and pass-through window, has been constructed.
"What used to be the lobby is now behind a locked door, which basically equates to better security," Dobbs explained. "The more doors you have to go through in a correctional facility equates to higher security."
Metal grates also have been erected in the stairwell between the second and third floors, which will prevent inmates from jumping the rail and accessing the lower stairs.
Dobbs described it as a "situation where we're not having to do a whole lot of building so much as tearing existing walls out" at this time.
The next phase of the project, Dobbs said, is the relocation of the jail's solitary confinement cell.
"One of the holdups that we've experienced is the availability of contractors," Dobbs said. " ... There is such a high demand for contractors right now."
Many general contractors, he said, have been working in flooded areas, such as Van Buren, Mo., and Doniphan, Mo.
"We're almost at the mercy of supply and demand with the contractors," he said.
The solitary confinement cell, Dobbs said, has to be moved first.
"After that, the additional holding cells and medical observations cells will be added," Dobbs said. The cells will be concrete with steel ceilings.
Also, what dictates the project is the money aspect, said Dobbs, who indicated some money has been set aside for the project.
When completed, Dobbs said, the booking officers will be behind a concrete wall and Plexiglass while processing an inmate.
Dobbs said the booking officer will be "somewhat elevated" above the inmate, who will have one hand cuffed during the entire process as compared to now when "they are walking around face to face with each other."
Another feature of the project, he said, will be the ability to get outside officers into the jail quickly.
"Once we get all done, officers will be able to get into the jail without having to be let in by correction officers," said Dobbs, who indicated that will add to the security of the facility.
The changes are a "long way from where we need to be, but we're moving in the right direction," Dobbs said.