A Fifth Generation Prepares its Family Business for a New Century

Joseph Pauly Pohrer and his brother Robert James Pohrer own and operate Pauly Jail Building Company, a detention equipment contractor based in St. Louis. Pauly Jail has been in business for nearly 150 years and the brothers Pohrer are the fifth generation to oversee this enduring family enterprise. In the mid 19th century, when the company was founded, all that was needed to construct a safe and secure correctional environment were the skills of a good blacksmith and a knowledge of basic mechanics. A lot has changed since those days. New and efficient methods of construction must serve the needs of those who manage prisons, the public who depend on jails to maintain community safety, and the inmates who, in greater and greater numbers, live in the facilities. Joe Pohrer talked with Correctional News about the history of his company, Pauly Jail’s successful team approach to building, and changes within the field of correctional construction.

Joe De Patta: Can you tell us about the background and history of Pauly Jail Building Company?

Joseph Pohrer: In 1856, my family started a small business in St. Louis, Missouri. They were steamboat blacksmiths on the Mississippi River and they did quite well because there was a lot of river traffic. After the Civil War, my great-great grandfather, P.J. Pauly, Sr., noticed that many counties and cities in the United States and its territories lacked places to temporarily house prisoners who were to be transferred to a state prison. In those days, state prisons were few and far between, and convicts were often in local custody for a long time before transfer. My great-great-grandfather used his skills as a blacksmith to manufacture small steel cages that were anchored to wagons. They were mobile jails that could be drawn from place to place-wherever they were needed-for inmate incarceration and transportation. The family business naturally developed over the last 150 years, from those sort of primitive beginnings to what we consider today to be a state-of-the-art detention equipment contractor. My brother, Robert James Pohrer, and I are the fifth generation of the Pauly family to manage and operate Pauly Jail. My father, grandfather, and great-grandfather also once headed the company.

Our company was one of the first to pioneer the double ribbed bar and develop “tool-resisting steel.” We believe in the “4-S” approach to the correctional industry – security, segregation, sanitation, and safety. Along the way we also have created and developed Noverflo no-clog plumbing fixtures; Securidor, a forerunner of the heavy, hollow metal door and frame; and detention security windows called Invisiguard and Ventralite.

JD: I understand that your company takes a team approach to projects. Can you explain this practice to our readers?

JP: I would have to say the team approach is the number one issue that separates us from most other detention equipment contractors, or DECs. Most of the DECs I am familiar with go to a job, bid it, and take numbers from many different product manufacturers. In other words, if there’s a job bidding at ABC Federal Facility, most DECs go to all of the approved companies to get numbers and then submit, as part of its bid, the lowest numbers. If there are three approved hollow metal door companies, other DECs will try to get numbers from all three. The same goes for windows or locks or furniture or whatever is required from the bidder.

We, however, pretty much use one manufacturer that we consider a member of our team. For instance, if we’re bidding on a project that requires security hollow metal doors, we only use Habersham Metal Products Company because we believe them to be the best. We streamline our team of manufacturers to include only the best products in each line and I think Habersham makes the best hollow metal doors. Do other companies make good doors? Of course. I would never argue that point, but we only use who we believe to be the best. We use the same philosophy when selecting window, lock, and other product companies for our team.

Another benefit to the team approach is our ability to become a manufacturers’ best customer which allows us to get better pricing, better service, and better delivery. We offer the whole team package to an architect or to an owner, and that results in better service, now and in the future. And long-term service is a big deal. If I’m a detention contractor that only offers low bids to win a project and then a problem occurs during a job or after a job, what is my incentive to quickly respond to the problem? There isn’t one. However, when I’m a detention contractor with a team and I’m making a profit, I’m going to want to and be able to respond to problems as quickly as possible.

Most jobs have one- or two-year warranties that begin the day the owner takes delivery of a facility and you’re responsible for maintaining the warranty with twenty-four hour service. But, when all a contractor does is bid cheaply, no one is going to jump through hoops to help the owner when a problem occurs. An even more critical time is after the warranty period, when a delayed response to a problem can negatively impact the architect-and eventually impact you.

Because most DECs stopped doing their own installations and instead broker out the work, the responsibility for tending to problems is now often unclear. By maintaining our own installation company, we eliminate the confusion.

It is important to note that we work in a set territory. We don’t bid jobs in Northern California, New York, Florida, Texas or other areas. We work in a seven- to eight-state territory that covers Ohio and reaches Kansas. We have Pauly Jail employees living in those areas who can respond to warranty calls. We have our own teams of trained field technicians who also have been trained by our manufacturers and are supported by a project management team. Our teams work in a variety of capacities: as a contractor supervised by the architect, as a sub-contractor supervised by a general contractor, as a sub-contractor supervised by the client or client designate, and as an expert on project repairs and service.

JD: What aspects of correctional construction have you seen change the most?

JP: Well, I can’t speak for the whole industry, but as far as we’re concerned, with county jails, juvenile centers, and some of the state projects-which constitute the majority of our work-I’d say the biggest difference is the change in construction methods. I mean modular construction, whether it’s modular steel cells or modular pre-cast cells, they are the biggest changes I’ve noted. Another big change is in the advancements of computer controls. You go back ten, twelve, fifteen years, we didn’t have car phones or pagers, we used hardwired systems and we didn’t have computer locking systems and other methods of automation in the day-to-day operation of a facility. Both of these changes have had a great effect on correctional construction.

JD: What has changed the least?

JP: I would say the overall technology of construction itself. In most cases, construction methods still include grouted, block concrete walls, 12-gauge security doors and frames, and windows that exhibit the same basic materials and technology-although the frames have changed from heavy steel to stainless steel.

JD: How may projects are you involved in at any one time?

JP: We run pretty consistently and are involved in different phases of construction with about twenty-five to thirty jobs at one time. Projects include renovations, remodels, upgrades, and new construction. We’ve been building correctional facilities for more years than other firms have, and yet our reputation is still on the line with every facility. We need to do our best on every project. Fortunately, we understand the correctional environment, and by working on so many different projects, we maintain a good relationship with law enforcement representatives.

JD: Speaking of law enforcement, have new sentencing guidelines affected your industry?

JP: No, not really. The new laws are putting people away for longer periods of time whereas before they would be paroled sooner. I’m noticing a lot of people serving much longer sentences, which probably has a lot to do with the drop in crime statistics. Of course, the way locking people up for longer periods of time effects my industry is that facilities become overcrowded and then there’s a need for new or expanded facilities.

JD: What types of challenges have you encountered on your projects? How did you address them?

JP: There is one project we’re working on for the state of Illinois-a maximum-security facility for sexual predators. It is a 68-cell addition and we need to build the addition quickly because the state is almost in an emergency situation due to lack of bed space. This project is not a treatment facility; we are building spaces for highly disturbed, dangerous prisoners and the challenge for us is building them fast enough.

Authorities want the project designed, bid, and built as quickly as possible. We worked with the state and the architect and came up with a package that included us as DEC working on pre-cast cells, hollow metal and hardware, controls, and the windows. We were awarded the contract in mid-July and we’ll be completing construction of the cells and the hollow metal and the hardware by December of this year. We expect the project to go well and hope the experience proves that delivering an entire package can get facilities built quickly and efficiently.

JD: What are your predictions for the correctional construction industry?

JP: I’ve been working in the industry for almost 20 years and I haven’t seen it change that much. We’ve had a couple of slow years, such as the recession blip at the end of 1991 and into 1992, but those years didn’t result in drastic changes. In general, I don’t see any major downturn coming and anticipate continued construction because prisons become overcrowded very quickly. I also see a shift in public and private facilities.

Illinois, one of the states in our territory, had slowed down construction for a few years, but I expect them to start building again. Usually, about the time one or two states start building, the state next to it gets the building bug.

Now, it seems by the time new facilities are designed and built, they are immediately double bunked and the place declared overcrowded. It used to be that county facilities weren’t overly crowded and they could make a little money by housing state inmates. Now, however, counties are just as overcrowded. And I know the U.S. Marshals are making a nationwide search for available beds.

The other change I mentioned is in the move toward more public work. I don’t think the private correctional firms are doing as well as they had been. If you look back at the industry a couple of years ago, it seemed like private correctional companies were going to take over the world. Lately, they have run into some opposition and funding difficulties. The need for bed space still exists, but the private companies aren’t building them now.

I have a pretty good network and I talk to all my manufacturers, suppliers, architects, and even with contacts in states in which we don’t do business, and everyone is pretty much in agreement on what is in store for the next few years.

JD: Is there anything you’d like to add?

JP: Well, just that the fifth generation is operating Pauly Jail and that everything is going well. We have been successful in our efforts to provide attractive, livable spaces and we always keep security at the forefront of every project. I appreciate the opportunity to talk with you. Oh, you can mention that I like to play golf.