Securitecture consultants Joe Mrak and Brett Dodd share what options Houghton County has for resolving space challenges with a new jailhouse.
Houghton County’s leaders will need to show residents how a new facility will improve public safety and reduce chances of recidivism before construction can begin. A millage for a new facility to replace the 1963 jailhouse and sheriff department failed to pass in 2000, 2011, and 2018. And potential costs have only increased according to design consultants.
These types of facilities are very expensive, but they’re never cheaper than they are today. So if you can afford to maximize the number of beds you build today, it adds longevity to the facility. So 20 years from now, you’re not doing another addition, or 15 years from now, you’re not doing another addition. Much more expensive because inflation in this industry for this building type will cost them about a million dollars for every year of delay. – Brett Dodd, Consultant, Securitecture
Design consultants with Securitecture say right now construction costs could range between 26 and 36 million dollars. Depending on the final design decision and potential add-ons the county determines it will use, such as a work camp. Consultant Brett Dodd says the biggest challenge with the existing facility is the lack of space according to modern enforcement housing standards.
So the world has changed and the jail design has to change. And you have a building that’s one, too small, but two is inflexible. It cannot be renovated to meet today’s mission. So the only option is to start over with something different. And the whole mental health issue and the whole idea of bringing community. When you look at who was on that committee, there were a lot of community mental health people, people from all over the spectrum of the community that all have an input on the success of the mission. And so designing a flexible facility, not just to accommodate today’s needs, but what these needs tomorrow might be we don’t know what those are, but designing a flexible facility to accommodate ever-changing missions is what we need to set out to do. – Joe Mrak, President, Securitecture
Houghton County does not currently have space to house juvenile inmates. And has limited space for female inmates and violent offenders. Which has forced the sheriff’s department to send inmates to prisons as far away as Jackson and Benton Harbor. A new facility would house between 60 to 80 beds.
It’s all based on 60 beds. If they want 70 beds, it costs X. If they want 80 beds, it costs Y. If they want enclosed vehicle storage, it costs X. So we’ve laid out a shopping list for the county commissioners and their committees to kind of work through to see what’s important. These don’t all have to be done at the same time either. Now the number of beds does, but some of these other components can be done in the future through different funding mechanisms. It depends on what the immediate threshold is for the potential millage and the cost increase. – Brett Dodd, Consultant, Securitecture
Houghton County commissioners will continue to work with the jail project task force on the justice center project. If a millage passes later in the year, construction could begin on Sharon Avenue as early as spring 2026, and up to four years to complete.
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