A local design firm has begun the permitting process to build a new medium-security housing facility at the Clark County Jail Work Center site that could create up to 64 additional beds.
County officials say the new facility will serve as a “relief valve” while the county prepares to renovate the old, crowded, dilapidated main jail facility in downtown Vancouver.
“It’s very exciting to be a part of this community moving forward in this law and justice component,” Jail Director David Shook said Thursday. “For years, they’ve always said this jail is too small, we don’t have enough space. And so to see this going forward … this definitely will allow this facility and the jail staff and the corrections staff to have that flexibility for our community.”
Mackenzie Inc. submitted a land use pre-application March 6 to the city of Vancouver to build an 18,000-square-foot prefabricated facility at the work center site, 5197 Lower River Road. The site used to house the work release program and kitchen and laundry services for the main jail and juvenile detention center. The programs went by the wayside right before the pandemic, when the lower-security inmates who were eligible were no longer being kept in the jail, Shook said. Lifeline Connections crisis services is also in a building at the work center site.
Deputy County Manager Amber Emery said Thursday the county is aiming to open the new medium-security facility by the end of 2025. The county allocated $14.5 million for the expansion from its capital projects general fund, Shook said.
Shook said the work center facility will provide more space for people of different security risk levels to be separated more appropriately.
“We have a complex community of inmates here at this (main jail) facility, and oftentimes, with our classification system, we’re not allowed to mix and match different levels,” Shook said. “We just have more accused violent individuals than we’ve historically had, and those individuals have to be classified and placed, sometimes by themselves, sometimes with others.” (Data on the makeup of the jail population was unavailable late Thursday afternoon.)
The work center facility will also be key as the county prepares to move forward with a phased renovation of the main jail. Shook said the idea is Jail Services would be able to move inmates to the work center site while construction begins in sections at the main facility.
The county is wrapping up the initial phase of the main jail renovation project, learning from stakeholders — law enforcement agencies, mental health providers and court officials — what they need in the updated facility. The next phase will be for the county to finalize a design. Emery did not yet have a timeline for that project.
Emery said once the entire renovation is complete, the work center facility will continue to offer corrections some flexibility to use it for a variety of housing needs.
The increased space should also reduce the number of beds jail staff currently rent from other counties and save the money associated with that. Shook said the county is currently renting 15 beds from Skamania County, which costs upwards of $300,000 annually.
Emery said the permitting beginning on the work center expansion signals increased momentum toward solving the constraints of the current jail facility, which was built in 1984 and scantly updated since.
“I think the community really understands the need for a jail that’s modern,” Emery said. “Our needs have changed just so dramatically in a jail environment that these new designs help address that.”
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