How many beds do we need?

Based on the County criminal justice studies performed by CJAAC during the past several years, we believe that the County will need to have about 380 beds to take us to somewhere beyond 2020 and longer depending on the impact of alternatives. That is down considerably from the projection made in 1997 that we would need 600 beds in 2010. The County has achieved this reduction by implementing a number of alternatives to incarceration, and the current project assumes that those alternatives will continue.

Also, additional alternative programs were identified that have the potential to impact both how long individuals stay in the jail and how many times they return to the system. We hope that we will be able to use these programs to defer the need for some of these beds.

How long will this solution last?

All Counties involved in a jail planning project wish that time travel was a viable method of determining what their jail needs are going to be at some point in the future. Unfortunately, population projecting is a very inexact science - and there are many things that can cause our actual needs to deviate from what we expect. Laws change, policies change, the social climate changes, the economy changes - and so our needs change.

Because this is a very real problem, as we plan, Scott County has determined that it is essential that we build the ability to expand, contract, modify and adapt the solution that we ultimately select so that our facility is responsive to the potential for change. This will make us as a County less reliant on having a perfect answer in an imperfect world.

Question 3.

How big is it going to be?

The recommended solution will have the capacity to hold 380 inmates. At Tremont the footprint of the building will not change substantially. At the downtown location the solution will add low rise additions to both the east and west.

For more detailed information, see the Facility Solutions document, available in the Document section of this website.

What's included in the facility?

The recommended solution will include a mixture of renovation and added spaces. Spaces will include housing areas, staff areas, intake and release spaces, programmatic spaces and offices, and other spaces necessary to support a modern jail operation.

In addition the new entrance to the jail will also better connect the facility to the existing Courthouse, providing more functionality and better security to these inter-related buildings.

More details are available in the Facility Needs and Facility Solutions documents available on this website in the Document section of this website.