Jail Express Mainlines New Max-Sec Precast Cells

NEW CENTURY, Kan. — The expansion of the New Century Adult Detention Center in Johnson County gathered pace as railroad cars delivered 48 precast concrete cells from Georgia.

The precast cells are part of a $60.3 million jail expansion, which will add 554 beds to more than double Johnson County’s total detention capacity to 1,088 beds. The existing New Century facility has 264 beds and the county’s other detention facility, in Olathe, has 270 beds.

Outfitted to specification by Spartanburg, S.C.-based Tindall Corporation, the 48 precast cells arrived from Tindall’s manufacturing plant in Conley, Ga., prefinished and ready to be hoisted into place.

Incorporating fixtures and furnishings, such as concrete bunk, desk, shelves, stainless steel sink, mirror and toilet, the precast cells are fitted with doors and locking mechanisms and connected to utilities on-site.

The remainder of the 554 new beds will be built using standard pour-in-place construction methods. Construction is scheduled for completion by mid-2009.

The project team includes New York-based Turner Construction and Kansas-based Treanor Architects in association with international design, engineering, planning and construction firm Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum Inc.

Once complete, the new facility will provide 50 maximum-security and 384 minimum- and medium-security beds. Up to 120 of the new beds could be used for segregation housing or dedicated to special-needs inmates.

The additional beds will reduce the need to house county inmates with other jurisdictions, officials say.

Johnson County currently contracts with more than 15 other counties to house an average of more than 350 inmates a day, according to official figures. The county spent almost $9 million on housing and transfer costs in 2006.

Although the 554-bed expansion is expected to relieve jail overcrowding, the county may need to further expand capacity in the coming years, officials say.

The current expansion project, which was planned at 426 beds, was revised in 2007 to increase overall capacity by an additional 128 beds, officials say.

The design team expanded capacity with the addition of a third story. The project revisions to expand capacity increased project costs by approximately $5 million, but did not delay the project completion date, officials say.

It is estimated the county could need up to 1,507 beds by 2015 and 1,884 beds by 2020.

With the demand for additional jail space expected to continue to increase, an additional 752-bed expansion of the New Century facility at an estimated cost of $148 million has been mooted.