Teddy Shaffer just had to test out a new bed. It didn’t look real inviting, being that the “mattress” barely kept him off the floor and had no pillow. In fact, that floor is about as soft as the mattress.
During a Dec. 17 open house at the new Women’s Detention and Work Release Center, Shaffer laid down in the padded cell. It’s a bare room with foam covering walls and the floor, intended for inmates who need to be kept temporarily in a place where they can’t hurt themselves.
Shaffer said he didn’t want to stay in that room or anywhere else in the new facility. The bed is just a thicker layer of padding on the floor.
Four years in the making, the Women’s Detention Center will open shortly after the new year begins, said Fayette County Sheriff Zac Jones. Constructed in a former Dollar General store at 327 Central Ave., it has 40 beds for inmates and 20 for Community Corrections.
The padded cell tested by Shaffer is about the barest-looking place in the building. Most inmates will be assigned to dormitory-style rooms furnished with bunk beds. The two-tier beds are made of sturdy-looking angle iron anchored into the concrete floor.
Outside of the dorm rooms are lounge areas with round tables and stools, all fastened to the floors. On a wall in those lounges are storage places for computer tablets, which inmates can pay to use.
There are also restroom and shower facilities. In answer to a question about surveillance, Jail Commander Tom Ellis pointed out a camera installation in the ceiling, noting that inmates can be monitored at all times. Walls between bathroom stalls provide some privacy there.
The cameras are monitored from a central administrative center in the jail. Each dorm room also has a small window that opens onto a hallway, where jail staff can look in on the inmates.
When conceived, the new facility was intended to relieve overcrowding in the Fayette County Jail – which is adjacent – by moving women to a separate facility. The jail opened more than 40 years ago with a capacity of 114 inmates. At times, it has housed as many as 180, leading to citations from state agencies. This year, the jail has seen its lowest occupancy in years, at 107 on Dec. 12.
Adding the new facility has created 10 new jail staffing positions, Jones said. Three or more staff will be in the detention center 24 hours a day.
Still, the new facility will allow expansion of the county’s Community Corrections program, which has never had a place for women to stay. It will be east central Indiana’s only county-operated work release facility for females. Jones is hopeful that other counties might pay to send some women here for the program.
The county purchased the former retail store a couple of years before deciding what to do with it. Dale Strong, president of the Fayette County Board of County Commissioners, has been an advocate for the new detention center. Two factors helped persuade him to support making it into a women’s jail: The commissioners knew the existing jail needed more space. And the county’s Community Corrections program needed space to serve women.
“When discussions started, the alternative was to build a new $35 million jail and tear down the old one,” he said. “That wasn’t an option. We couldn’t borrow that much.”
Renovating the former retail store building has cost about $5 million, Strong said.
About $4.3 million came from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), distributed to local governments during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Here’s the best thing I like. We’ll have spent a little over $5 million and accumulated no debt because of ARPA,” Strong said.
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