Created: 11/9/2009 1:44:44 PM 
Greensboro, NC -- Although work has been going on for weeks, Guilford County leaders officially broke ground on the county's new jail Monday.
It's located at the corner of Edgeworth and Sycamore Streets in Greensboro.
The new jail will have room for 1,032 prisoners. The current jail has a capacity of 374. Sheriff BJ Barnes said the jail has closer to about 500 people.
"We usually average every day over 200 people sleeping on the floor within the jails of Guilford County and that's just wrong," Barnes said.
Barnes said he's discussed the need for a new jail ever since he took office 15 years ago. He said discussions started before he ever became sheriff.
Barnes said the new jail will include 45 beds for mental health prisoners and 45 beds for drug intervention prisoners.
"I would hope that we would not be able to keep people there that are awaiting jail and court time long enough so they can get their GED or to go through some type of treatment. But, to try to address it and isolate those folks, yes, I think that's a good step forward," said Skip Alston, chair of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. He opposed building a new jail.
Voters approved a $115 million bond for the project in May 2008. The estimated cost is now $85 million.
"We saved on this jail approximately 10 million dollars because of the economy and because of our favorable construction bids," Alston said.
"We have a guaranteed price. The price can go down, but it's not going up," Barnes said. Local companies will be be used as much as possible, he said.
About 2,000 people will be hired in the construction process, Barnes said. Because of the extra capacity, 166 new detention officers will be hired.
WEB EXTRA: Click here for their recruitment page
The project is expected to take 32 months.
When the new jail is complete, the current jail will be remodeled at a cost of $5 million. Barnes said that money is already budgeted and will be paid for with the bond.
Description of new detention facility from Sheriff's Office:
- Direct Supervision
- 400,000 square feet
- 8 stories: full service jail, intake, processing, warrant repository, food service, medical, laundry, programs, visitation, secure tunnel
- 1,032 beds, expandable to 1,600 beds (Infrastructure will support this)
- Two floors of 352 beds, one of 264 beds, medical
- Projected Population by the opening of new facility:
1106 ADP and 1383 peaking population
- 1.907 Acres of land for site
- Address: 201 South Edgeworth Street (Behind the current jail at the corners of South Edgeworth Street and W. Sycamore Streets)
- located on the block where the jury parking lot is located currently
- New entrance will be located at the corner of Edgeworth and Sycamore
- Partial Road closure on North Blandwood
- Designed to "fit in" with surrounding buildings
- Exterior walls concrete, brick, architectural precast
- Exterior glazing insulated glass and security glazing and screen
- Security touch panels, cameras, intercoms, DVRs for investigative purposes
- Pneumatic electronic doors, 12 or 14 gauge steel
- "State of the Art" facility
- 25 Inmate Housing Units, double and single wet cells
- 3 Medical units totaling approximately 40,000 square feet
- 64 Medical/Infirmary beds
- Secure Tunnel from new jail to court house, under the road
- 312 Staff members needed
- 166 to be hired (Currently Old GSO Jail has 146 employees)
- Warrant Repository utilized by GPD, HPPD, Gibsonville, A&T, UNCG, etc.
Inmate Programs: Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation, GED, Life Skills, Computer Skills, HIV/AIDS Awareness, Religious services, Family Life Skills, Prodigal Son, Pride, Hispanic Life Skills, Mentoring, Toastmasters, etc.
