A Will County committee has picked a design plan that would more than triple the capacity of the county’s chronically overcrowded jail.
The County Board’s Capital Improvements Committee on Tuesday accepted the recommendation of the Public Building Commission, the Sheriff’s Department and the jail staff over two other potential designs. The full board is scheduled to vote Jan. 20.
County officials have budgeted $50 million to expand the 312-bed jail, where inmate counts in 2004 averaged 550 per day and peaked at 600. The county soon will sell $35 million in bonds to begin paying for construction costs.
The proposed design will increase the jail’s square footage from 155,000 to 323,000 and result in space for 987 beds, with the potential to later expand the downtown Joliet facility to as many as 2,000 beds, officials said.
Plans also call for moving the 180-space parking lot from the jail grounds, at Chicago and Ottawa Streets, to a site east of Chicago Street and to expand the lot to 381 spaces. The option also calls for using a remote video visiting system.
Sheriff Paul Kaupas (the name as published has been corrected in this text), who has lobbied for more jail space since taking office in 2002, said the design also would expand cramped kitchen and laundry facilities.
Committee chairman Wayne McMillan (R-Bolingbrook) called the move “one more giant step.” He said the county is on track to break ground on the project by summer.
County officials, who have earmarked $4 million a year to repay the bonds over 20 years, said Tuesday they are applying for a $6 million grant for the jail project.
The county already has the needed $587,000 match to get the grant, which is federal money to be distributed by the state, officials said.
The expansion could be ready for use by the fall of 2007, according to documents issued by the Public Building Commission.
In a related matter, the committee opened bids from eight companies seeking to serve as project construction manager.
