Clark County Jail is in need of expansion and serious renovations in order to remain viable, but, in some ways, the 33-year-old facility is in surprisingly good shape.
That was the conclusion of a much-anticipated consultant’s study on the jail that was presented at a Clark County work session on Wednesday. Last year, the county approved a $300,000 contract with the DLR Group, a facilities consulting firm with offices in Portland and Seattle, to determine what sort of upgrades, remodeling and expansions the jail will require to remain functional.
The consultants projected that if the county followed best practices, it would need to add up to 467 new jail beds in the next 20 years and allow the facility to nearly triple in size.
But what’s there now, while cramped, is holding up well, they said.
“As a whole, we’re actually very surprised by the physical assessment,” Bill Valdez, a principal of the firm, told the council and staff. “Your big-dollar items … are performing very well, but there is still quite a bit of deferred maintenance as well as other upgrades that would be needed just to be able to make the current jail operational for a set period of time.”
Valdez told the council the jail’s parking lot falls in the “performing well” column, as do the groundwater and stormwater systems.
But, he added, the list of items in need of repair or replacement includes parts of the jail’s HVAC, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. Valdez also said the county needs to replace the jail’s doors, which he said manufacturers no longer make and have been kept workable by fabricating or finding spare components.
Tight squeeze
Corrections Chief Ric Bishop also noted that there isn’t a secure place for deputies and police officers to park while filling out forms. Referencing assaults on law enforcement officers that have occurred elsewhere in the country, he expressed concern that officers and deputies could be attacked from behind while parked outside the building.
Lori Coppenrath, a principal at DLR Group, said that even though Clark County is locking up fewer people, it should expect growth.
“You’ve already distilled your (jail) population down to the lowest it can be,” said Coppenrath.
She said that the jail currently has a 793-bed capacity. She said that projections in the study called for an increase in beds ranging from 1,109 to 1,260 by 2036.
During the presentation, she called attention to how the jail already has problems with a lack of space or how existing rooms are designed. According to figures given in the presentation, the study concluded that the jail needs 366,564 square feet but currently only has 124,318 square feet (excluding its work center).
Valdez and Coppenrath called attention to the jail’s detox, intake, security, housing as well as staff meeting and training areas as being particularly constricted, overcrowded or now allowing for proper supervision of inmates. Their presentation also noted that because of space issues inmates were unable to access programs.
“Your facility is just worn out from an aesthetic point of view,” said Coppenrath, adding that it had an “institutional” appearance and is “pretty depressing.”
The study left out what could be done about the situation as well as how much it will cost. After the meeting Valdez said that those questions would be answered in another study that will be published later this month.
