HMA students tour jail
Engineering class gets up close view of facility
A 100,000 square-foot fortress containing 519 beds, 5,000 cubic yards of concrete, three-inchthick glass and polymer windows, and a bevy of technology features that keep inmates and officers safe.
These are some of the features of the South County Detention Facility currently under construction on Scranton Avenue south of Porterville, and Friday engineering students from Harmony Magnet Academy were given a private tour of its inner workings to learn about the construction and design elements that will make it, upon completion, one of the most secure and advanced buildings of its kind in the state.
“This is where the textbook comes to life,” said Harmony engineering teacher Erik Santos as he took in the scene with a group of about 15 of his students. “They’re seeing all the things we’ve taught them about in class like construction, computer automated processes, building materials. We live in a small area and we don’t get to see things like this often.”
Leading the tour was Scott Murphy, senior construction manager with Vanir Construction Management, who explained the myriad of factors that are considered in the engineering design process.
Clad in green safety vests and hard hats, the groups of students learned that efficiency is a prime consideration in the construction of such a facility, and Murphy pointed out the many design elements that help cut operation costs.
When completed, the facility will be largely self-sufficient, with fields for growing vegetables and raising chickens, and thermal energy storage tanks, which create ice during the evening and blow air over it to cool the building, help cut costs of air conditioning during the intense heat of valley summers.
The facility features a Building Management System, a computerbased control system that will play a large role in managing its energy demands.
“It is a monstrous system that controls just about everything in the building — heating and cooling, water use and sources, fire alarms, and the smoke evacuation system in case of a fire,” explained Murphy.
They also learned about the architectural and structural merits of concrete, which figures prominently in the building’s design. Vanir used large slabs of pre-cast concrete for the walls instead of masonry bricks, which are more labor intensive.
In the case of a power outage, a massive generator the size of a small home can completely power the facility for 48 hours before refueling.
Along on the tour was Lt. Cory Jones from the Tulare County Sheriff’s Department, who has worked closely with Vanir during construction to ensure Sheriff Mike Boudreax’s vision for the facility becomes a reality. He offered insight to students regarding the building’s unique requirements from a law enforcement perspective.
At the top of the Sheriff’s list was the use of technology to minimize staffing requirements and maximize safety for both inmates and TCSO officers. The facility is completely automated and features one central control, two station controls and podular cells arranged in a semicircle, allowing
“In case of emergency, I can go type a password in and take control of the entire facility from the central control room and evacuate the entire
thing by using one control room and three employees,” said Jones.
A body scanner in the intake area will check inmates for foreign objects, speeding up the intake process and minimizing exposure to violence and disease, and the latest in camera technology will do the work that dozens of sets of eyes did years ago.
“I can’t tell you how many cameras are in here, but let’s just say you can’t pick your nose without somebody watching you,” said Jones. “The sheriff is very serious about maintaining order in this facility, and that includes his staff.”
As the group made their way through the cell blocks, kitchen, medical unit and intake areas, Murphy quizzed students about details covered on the tour, handing out prizes to students who either got the right answer or the closest to it.
After the tour, students were treated to a lunch provided by Vanir, where they reflected on what they had learned that day.
“It’s jaw-dropping,” said HMA junior Angel Torres. “It was interesting
how it was all designed, and the water tank system was pretty cool (referring to the site’s 500,000 gallon water storage tank).”
For Vanir staff, the day was an opportunity to give back to Porterville students by offering a glimpse of how things get done in the working world.
“Today is a big payoff to have the Academy of Engineering here,” said Dahl Cleek, who had a 38-year career with TCSO before becoming coming to work for Vanir as a project director. “They’ve been studying and talking about [engineering] all the time, but where’s the reality? Today they get to come in and talk to folks and see these things. What better way could they have to springboard them into deciding if this is what they want to do?”
Construction on the South County Detention Facility began in June of 2016 and is expected to conclude by July, then it will have to pass a series of inspections before opening in early 2019.
One of the upcoming projects for Vanir Construction will be a North County Detention Center in Visalia.