Plans are going forward to increase the space at the County Jail and are on schedule. Currently the first two phases of the County Sheriffs four step plan are under way. The first phase (to repair the roof over pods A & B of the old jail building) is almost complete and bids have gone out to repair the heat and air units for those sections.

Phase 2 has begun (to build a new 200 bed warehouse style unit inside the perimeter of the security fence) and is well under way. This unit will be for non-violent offenders only. The architects plans have been approved by the state board of corrections and is moving into the finance process. It is projected that this section will cost approximately 4.7 million dollars to complete. This is a vast contrast to the 800,000 it would have cost to build the same building in 2001. Once the funds are secured by either sale of bonds or by securing a building loan we can proceed with the bid process to find a construction company to do the work.

Phase 3 is to re-open the work center. Soon we will increase our bed capacity, as the prisoners now being held in the work center can be moved back to pods A & B which will free up 250 beds in the work center for misdemeanor criminals.

Finally, phase 4 will be the construction of a 200 hard bed facility to hold the most violent of criminals. We are predicting this cost will be in excess of 8 million dollars. In all, when all four phases are completed, the jail will house 1530 beds. This is close to the number of beds suggested by the UALR task force study of the county and the jail last fall.