Team reviews potential sites for new county jail

Plans for a new Spartanburg County jail are beginning to take shape, but it will be at least two weeks before architects make specific recommendations on a site for the new jail and a temporary jail.

An architectural team from Henningson, Durham & Richardson of Dallas and McMillian and Satterfield of Spartanburg reviewed some of the pros and cons of four potential jail sites during a special County Council meeting yesterday. Only one of the proposed locations was identified, the parking lot of the existing jail and County Courthouse. Earl Stahl, project architect, said the council will not be asked to make decisions on site selection or the temporary quarters for two weeks, when the architects develop more complete information on initial construction costs and long-term operational costs. The architects discussed options for relieving overcrowding in the existing county jail, which routinely houses twice as many people as allowed under state standards.

Among options being considered is using the county-owned warehouse - formerly the Sullivan Hardware Building - as a temporary jail facility. Architects said it could hold dormitory jail cells for about 50 low-risk inmates, 20 state trustys and 20 women inmates. It also could include a small unit for different classifications including maximum-security women inmates. The warehouse could provide space for inmates serving weekend sentences. Architect Roger Stewart said the warehouse conversion probably would be the least expensive temporary jail to build. But other factors include the need for additional staff members, the loss of county warehouse space and the time it takes to renovate the building.

Purchasing modular jail cells is the most expensive option, but it would provide the quickest relief for overcrowding problems, Stewart said. The other option is building a temporary jail on the site selected for the permanent jail and working it into final jail design. But under that option, it would take longer to relieve the critical overcrowding problems at the county jail.

The decision on temporary jail space, particularly the third option, affects the site selection. The parking lot site would require construction of a seven-story jail, said Ramesh Loharikar, who is heading the design phase of the work. Though it would include three levels, housing 200 inmates each, the levels include two floors of cells each. It also would have a ground-floor administrative section.

The three remaining sites, all within three miles of the existing jail and ranging from 20 to 70 acres, would allow for a less costly single-level construction, but the cost of transporting inmates to and from the courthouse and property acquisition would add to the cost. The availability of utilities and topography also must be considered, the architects said.