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Temporary Jail In Cantonment Under Consideration
May 15, 2015
Escambia County may construct a temporary jail in Cantonment to save inmate housing costs.
The Escambia County Commission decided Thursday to begin looking for contractors and definitive cost to build a temporary 400 bed detention facility near the Escambia County Road Prison on Highway 297A in Cantonment. It’s estimated that the project could save the county $4 million over three years versus paying to house inmates in other counties.
When the Escambia County Central Booking and Detention Facility exploded in April 2014, the county began housing inmates in other counties. It’s estimated that the county will spend $11.5 million housing those inmates through 2018. A temporary facility is estimated to cost $5.8 million to build plus $2 million to continue out 0f county inmate housing during construction. That translates to an estimated savings of about $4 million through 2018 to construct the Cantonment detention facility.
The county could see other costs savings as well. Commissioners believe many inmates in the facilities to be put to work like road prison inmates — working on roads, drainage, maintenance and more. It is estimated that 400 current inmates would qualify for work crews, in addition to those currently at the road prison.
It is projected the temporary facility would have a life span of about 15 years. Commissioners have not decided how the facility might be used after a permanent jail is completed.
NorthEscambia.com file photos.
Comments
25 Responses to “Temporary Jail In Cantonment Under Consideration”
@conway
Not in my neighborhood!!
The old jail should have been torn down immediately and new one built in its place!!
convert the old winn Dixie store it shold be cheeper than a new building
CONSIDERING:
“maybe if the sheriff had been able to make repairs to the old jail when he wanted to, this cash cow we are paying for might have been avoided. Just a thought.”
A valid question if the money requested had included making related charges.
I don’t think that it did.
David for better planning, proper priorities
Does anyone remember how this ‘Jail Mess’ started? Sheriff Morgan asked the County Commissioners for $7 (or was it $9 million?) to make upgrades to the old jail. He was told NO. They then took the jail cause they could do a better job than the sheriff. Then KA-BOOM! Who knows, maybe if the sheriff had been able to make repairs to the old jail when he wanted to, this cash cow we are paying for might have been avoided. Just a thought.
There must be a reason why business’ complain about Escambia County when they are looking to start a business. I hear the red tape is mind numbing.
I agree with Chris. It seems to be working out in Arizona. The male inmates hate wearing the pink clothing and living in tents. We should make it a place where they really might think twice about going back to. If tents are OK for our military then why not for prisoners. Just my 2cents worth.
Seems like some closed schools might be candidates for a “temporary jail”.
We do not need more unused county and school buildings.
We have enough already.
Awe Chris, we could not dress them in pink or put flip flops on them. That would be a violation of their civil rights don”t cha know??? The criminals have way more rights than the victims or the rest of us. Oh wait..we are all victims to the craziness of this government…
Having inmates work is great and everything, but that’s 400 jobs that non-criminals could be drawing a paycheck for doing.
REGARDING:
“Take the 4$ million and put it towards the schools. I’m no politician not even close. Just makes more sense.”
Most of the people forced to be in jail prey on others. Many of them will not stop predation until forced to stop. It wouldn’t be sensible to ignore them. Yes, they cost all of us, but they will cost us more if not jailed.
David for better realities
Build them a tent city! Heck if we take away the A/C and all the other things that some of us can’t afford they will think twice about coming back!! Crap some of them have it better in jail than what they have at home. I know jail is a lot better than what a lot of law abiding people have!!!
How is that right?
Put their butts out in the heat and dress them in pink jump suits and flip flops. Then come back in 5 years and see how much money u save and how many of them are returning inmates compared to now. I bet u would be surprised!!!
Take the 4$ million and put it towards the schools. I’m no politician not even close. Just makes more sense.
the commisioners need to vist with Joe Arpaio in Arizona and see how a jail should be run .he has the lowest return offenders in the nation .
“Commissioners have not decided how the facility might be used after a permanent jail is completed.” Keep using it to house working inmates, you will have to hire more officers to supervise the 400 any way.Why not go ahead and build a new court house at camp 5 let the lawyers drive up there for court, since the inmate will be there
This is ridiculous. I don’t understand why they can’t repair the structure that already exists. I don’t want a jail build in Cantonment. We don’t need a jail in Cantonment. Just gonna bring down everything out there. Go somewhere else and build the jail.
We move to Cantonment to get away from the crime and mess of Pensacola so what do they do. Send the sewage plant to us and now the jail. There going to need to raise the budget because they are going to be using a lot more fuel haulling criminals from down in Pensacola (were the majority of the crime is) to Cantonment. This county is going downhill. Looks like its time to move to Santa Rosa.
If we let the commissioners kick this problem down the road, temporary will be perminant.
watch, it won’t end up being temporary. Then more of the lower end of Pensacola will be moving up this way as well so they can be close to their locked up relative. The heck with spending millions of bucks on this. Put up some concrete walls with constantina wire, build them a tent city and let them stay there. You could do that pretty cheap! The military has been using tent cities for years to house folks when their in “temporary” billets. Then again, the military gets treated worse than inmates do sometimes anyway!!
SAVINGS of not staffing a prison, upkeep utilities ect. Might be better to ship the prisoners out than pay for a multi million jail. Take the insurance money and store them elsewhere?
That’s typical Escambia County thinking. Just build the jail that you need and get it over with. It’s not going away and the cost will continue to climb.Why not let the inmates build their own jail under supervision!
Cant believe it has taken this long for the idea to be considered. Who knows how many years of law suits against insurance companies to see who is going to pay for the new jail will take as well as construction delays. $4 million is just the tip of the iceberg in savings.
So spend millions now to save millions in 4 yrs and then lose millions in 11 yrs when the facility is no longer an option? I’m not real good at understanding these kind of things but it just seems like throwing money at a problem and hoping it works out is a waste of money that could be used to fund a permanent solution. I understand the need to cut the cost of housing inmates but I think a permanent solution should be found and not just throw money out the window. But that’s just my opinion
I guess I just don’t understand their thought process….let’s build 2 jails instead of one? I fail to see how this saves money. Sort of like I will buy a car and then buy a second one, and maybe I can figure out what to do with the first one later on?
Uhh…I think a permanent structure might be possible for almost 6 mil, but I dunno, maybe I’m wrong. The location is perfect though, since there is already a prison.
Working outside should be considered a privilege, as a break from the confines of a cell, but most jails have air conditioned day rooms, with television & all day card games, dominoes, etc., so many inmates probably won’t want to join a chain gang.
Another untapped labor source is able bodied welfare recipients, but I dunno, that might seem a little too Nazi Germany-like for most.