Officials: Jail ‘substantially complete’

Parish officials say the new $9.4 million regional jail facility is now substantially complete.

The new Jeff Davis Sheriff’s Office (JDSO) jail facility is located on a 17.5-acre site off U.S. 90 west of Jennings. The facility includes a central control room, separate recreation yards for male and female inmates, isolation cells and a vehicular sally port.

While construction was originally planned to be completed by August, inclement weather and other delays put the project behind schedule.

The new facility will be twothirds larger than the current parish jail and will have 200 beds versus the current facility, which houses 64 inmates. The parish is projected to save thousands in fees currently paid to Concordia Parish each month to house nearly 100 prisoners for the parish.

“Once the new jail opens we can quit paying Concordia Parish to house our prisoners,” JDSO Chief Deputy Christopher Ivey said. “It costs us $24.50 each day per prisoner. At around 100 prisoners, we will be saving $50,000 a month on average once the new jail facility is complete.”

In May the jurors approved $612,100 per year to the sheriff’s department for 17 new employees.

“The new jail is automated as opposed to manual, where you use a touchscreen to open doors. There’s going to be a week or two where we need access to the jail with no prisoners so we can train people on using this system,” Jeff Davis Police Jury President Donald Woods said. “With the layout of the old jail, there is one hallway with three cells. With this new site, it has tiers that go around the building, so we need to have employees learn where certain cells are, as well as the kitchen and the booking area.”

Woods said that now that the project have been declared substantially complete, a punch list much be completed by the contractors in the next 45 days. After a punch list is completed, Woods said the next steps would be for the sheriff’s office to move in and start occupying the space.