Carcel

The Ohio Prototype Jail Design
By
Deb Stewart, Administrative Assistant
Harrison Spicer, Facilities Planner

Sheriff David Barber of Knox County has a problem. His 86-year old jail isovercrowded,
not up to code and can’t house the number of offenders sentenced to jail time. “We are
very enthused about being the first jurisdiction to use the prototype jail.” said Sheriff Barber.
“Due tothe expected cost savings, a new Knox County Jail will finally become a reality. We
cannot afford not to build a new jail. The cost of housing prisoners in other jails last year
was $96,000.”
TheState of Ohio launched a jail-funding program in 1983, currently implemented through
the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s (DRC), Bureau of Adult Detention. The
goal of this program is toeliminate the physical barriers to housing inmates in a safe and
secure environment and to reduce the number of offenders waiting to serve their sentence.

2

The funding program provides localjurisdictions with funds to assist in replacing,
renovating or adding to local jail facilities in accordance with the Minimum Standards for
Jails in Ohio. The Bureau is also working to reduce jailconstruction costs. Recently, a
cost per bed strategy was implemented enabling jurisdictions that build cost-effective jails
to receive a larger percentage of state funding. To further reduce thecost of building, a
Prototype Jail Design (PJD) has been developed.
In 1996, the legislature (through House Bill 748) established authority for the development
of a prototype jail. The legislaturedesignated $250,000 to enable the DRC’s, Bureau of
Adult Detention to “contract for services and goods for the purpose of developing a siteadaptable, cost-effective prototype jail design andarchitectural drawings to be made
available to local jurisdictions for their use in constructing a jail.” To facilitate the
development process, a committee was formed. The PJD Committee included three jail...