County may put inmates in warehouse

The Spartanburg County jail may soon ship some of its prisoners to a converted downtown Spartanburg warehouse to help alleviate critical overcrowding problems until a new jail is built. Meanwhile, the new jail may cost $5 million less to build than originally expected. Revised architects' estimates presented to the council yesterday place the cost of the jail at $11.8 million - about 30 percent less than the $16.8 million projected in a 1988 consultant's report.

The existing county jail has exceeded its rated inmate population since state Department of Corrections standards were set in 1980. Overcrowding has become critical over the past several months with the inmate population averaging about 180, nearly 21/2 times the 82-inmate capacity rating set by Corrections. Renovating a county-owned warehouse across the street from the existing jail, formerly the Sullivan Hardware building on Daniel Morgan Avenue, is the cheapest of three options for temporarily relieving jail overcrowding, a team of architects told County Council members yesterday.

Council members are leaning toward authorizing the $520,000 warehouse renovation, but they delayed a decision until they hear more detailed cost and design information on two remaining sites for a new jail. Several council members yesterday openly supported plans to convert a section of the warehouse into four 24-person, dormitory-style cells for minimum-security inmates. They decided, however, to wait until after a closed-door session to review site evaluations and land negotiations for four potential sites for a new jail. Site selection for a permanent jail could make other options for a temporary facility more feasible.

The council took no action on a new jail site or temporary jail quarters after the 30-minute closed-door session but authorized architects to provide more detailed information on two of the sites, said Earl Stahl of Henningson, Durham and Richardson Inc. of Dallas, the jail architects. Stahl said the decision all but eliminates two of the sites previously considered. The remaining proposals include building a seven-story jail in the south County Courthouse parking lot, adjacent to the existing jail. A second option includes building the jail on an undisclosed 20-acre site outside of the downtown area.

Construction of a jail at the 20-acre site is expected to be cheaper to construct and operate, but the county would face land acquisition and transportation costs that could be avoided at the downtown site. Stahl cautioned that the new, lower cost estimates exclude furnishings and are calculated on cost per square foot, not on specific design plans. The cost estimates are lower because more detailed architectural plans were able to consolidate space and provide for multiple use of areas not considered in the consultant's report, he said.

Donna Boudot, programmer for the architectural team, said the warehouse renovations could be completed in about six months. In addition to construction costs, the county would have to hire about 17 additional jail workers to staff the temporary jail. Stahl said the work might be completed quicker, possibly in as little as four months, if bid procedures could be bypassed. The warehouse jail also could be used as part of the county's permanent jail plans - to house weekend or other special inmates - but such use would add to the renovation costs, Stahl said.

Other options for the temporary jail include a $2.5 million proposal to install modular cells in the north courthouse parking lot or building a temporary dormitory facility on the site of the new jail, which could later be incorporated into the permanent jail plans or other uses. Cost estimates for the new building range from $1.4 million to more than $2.5 million.