New Franklin County jail completed
$7.9M, 104-bed facility to house sheriff’s office, new dispatch center, morgue
OZARK — Franklin County soon will be able to utilize a bigger, safer facility to hold its inmates.
Construction has been completed for the new Franklin County jail at 248 Airport Road in Ozark. Rickey Bowman, the county judge, said Tuesday that the county probably will not move in until “about April 1” because sheriff ’s office employees will need to be prepared to take over the facility.
The current jail, according to Bowman, was built in 1974 and was determined by the 5th Judicial District Criminal
Detention Facilities Review Committee not to meet minimum state jail standards. One of the problems with the jail over the years has been overcrowding.
“We’ve had double capacity in there before,” Bowman said.
The entirety of the new jail is run from a central mezzanine control center, Bowman said. The new jail will allow the sheriff’s office to segregate the different types of inmates in the facility as well.
Don Abernathy of SmithDoyle Contractors, the construction manager for the project, said in a phone interview Tuesday that the control room will give jailers the ability to look down in every cell from a single spot.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the project took place Sept. 10, 2018, Bowman said. The bid for the project was about $7.9 million. The funding was derived from two sales-and-use taxes that were approved by Franklin County voters during a special election in August 2017. The taxes add up to a half-percent, with a three-eighths percent tax going toward repaying construction bonds and the remainder going toward the operation and maintenance of the facility.
The one-eighth sales tax is shared with the county’s cities, Bowman said. The new taxes took effect Jan. 1, 2018.
Bowman said the new jail is a 104-bed facility, with 98 beds for general population and six for Act 309 state inmates. The building also will be home to the sheriff’s office, a new dispatch center, and a morgue, among other features.
A building dedication and open house was held Tuesday. Among those who spoke during the event, in addition to Bowman, were Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, Sen. Gary Stubblefield and Rep. Sarah Capp.