Fairfield’s jail includes security upgrades
LANCASTER — The new Fairfield County jail is scheduled to open to the public next month with a ribbon-cutting and tours — shortly before inmates are brought in and locked up.
Inmates are likelier to remain in the new jail than some did in the three now in use. Two inmates escaped around 10:15 p.m. last Tuesday from the main jail, built in 1966 in downtown Lancaster, by opening the lock on their holding cell and walking out the front door. They were recaptured the same night.
That escape demonstrates the need for the modern, higher-security jail that is about to open, said Sheriff Dave Phalen, who is investigating how the inmates managed to break out.
“In our new facility, there’s no way an inmate could compromise the lock system on the doors,” he said.
The fanfare scheduled for June 17 marks the completion of a $35 million project. The building combines a modern, 384-bed jail with space for the sheriff’s office of about 150 employees and
replaces three outdated, crowded jail buildings that have consistently failed state inspections because they don’t meet minimum standards.
People who take the tours will see security that includes 149 cameras and a sally port, which is a secured garage through which deputies will escort men and women to the booking area and on to housing areas that include dormitory-style and one- and two-inmate cells. Deputies will supervise the inmate housing areas from central control rooms. The new jail also has space for inmates to attend counseling, classes and programs.
Inmates are to be moved into the new jail in late June. The number of inmates has ranged from about 220 to 250, leaving excess space that Fairfield County may lease to other counties. Perry County officials have shown interest.
Fairfield County officials had talked about the need for a new jail for more than 20 years before commissioners voted in 2013 to build it. Seeing the project come to fruition in the growing county of nearly 150,000 residents is a big deal, said Commissioner Steve Davis.
“Getting the facility built and operational is certainly a milestone,” Davis said. “We dared to go where 20 years of our predecessors refused. There is some measure of pride in that.”
The project has drawn controversy, however. Some critics of the location at 345 Lincoln Ave. on the edge of downtown favored building the jail four miles away, in the Liberty Center government complex. They said building the jail on an old industrial site could loosen contaminants buried there and pollute city water wells. Critics also said soil conditions at the site required a reinforced foundation and other construction accommodations that added about $3 million to what the project would have cost if built at Liberty Center.
County commissioners, law enforcement, judges and other officials said it was important to build the jail close to the courthouse downtown for security, transportation and financial reasons.
The new jail is next to a current jail on land at 342 W. Wheeling St. That jail will be demolished for parking, as will the main jail and sheriff’s office at 221 E. Main St. The county also will stop using a third lockup, the jail annex at 5955 Revenge Road, which officials have been leasing from the state since 2011 to relieve overcrowding.
County and city environmental consultants have said the site of the new jail is safe. Well monitoring and testing have shown no problems with the drinking water.
The “made-up” and “fake” claims that the project put the city drinking water at risk are irresponsible fearmongering by people who didn’t want the new jail near downtown, Davis said.
Yet critics still do not believe the site is safe.
“They had another location for the jail, and as far as I’m concerned, they jeopardized the health and safety of the citizens of Lancaster,” said local business owner Janet Muralt, who remains concerned about arsenic levels in drinking water despite assurances from county and city officials.
“I do not believe the commissioners and we do not trust the city government,” she said.