Friday, February 11, 2000
Jail staff addresses needs of next Kenton facility
BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON — While Kenton County Jail officials would prefer the new jail be a low-rise facility, they say staff also could make a multistory jail work with the right technology.
“Sure, we'd like a one-story facility, if it worked out that way,” said Col. Rodney Ballard, chief deputy in the Kenton County Jail.
“But if (the county) wants to build a new place for us, we'll take it. A high-rise designed with (year) 2000 technology would be hands and feet over the present jail.”
Col. Ballard was among jail staff who addressed the Kenton County Jail Commission on Thursday about features they would like to see in a new jail.
The commission is charged with advising Kenton Fiscal Court on the design and oper ations of a new jail that would replace the crowded, inefficient facility near Covington's riverfront.
Kenton Judge-executive Dick Murgatroyd has said he would like to build a county government complex in downtown Covington that would include a jail.
He said county officials “are just about convinced (Kenton County) is going to have to build a multistory jail,” possibly as high as six stories.
“So many of the new facilities are multistory. And in talking with architects, they still think we can operate efficiently and effectively in that type of setting,” Mr. Murgatroyd said.
He added he would like to see county officials choose a jail site by the end of March, provided the county can find a cost-effective site that's acceptable to Covington officials.
Terry Carl, who was sworn in as Kenton County jailer a year ago, and Col. Ballard said Thursday that their wish list for a new jail would include:
• A detoxification center with medically trained personnel, so that highly intoxicated prisoners didn't have to take up hospital beds at St. Elizabeth Medical Center
• The addition of a medical unit for better monitoring of prisoners who have recently undergone surgery or are suffering from a serious or chronic illness, as well as a special area for the mentally ill.
• Support areas, such as a kitchen and laundry facilities, that are built large enough to handle future needs.
“We're having to cook certain meals twice because the kitchen's too small,” Col. Ballard said.
• A jail that's large enough to allow better separation of the younger, violent felons and predatory inmates from other prisoners; keep warring gang members apart; separate prisoners with personality conflicts; and isolate problem prisoners.
“It's hard for us to discipline anybody, because there's no place to move them,” Mr. Carl said.
Designed with a capacity of 262, Kenton County's 31-year-old jail has held as many as 453 inmates, and jail officials predict that number could hit 500 this summer.
A newly remodeled fifth-floor minimum security area housing 90 prisoners is scheduled to open this spring, “but that's only a temporary fix,” Mr. Carl said.
Since 1998, Kenton County has spent about $176,800 — mostly for consulting work — in planning for a new jail, according to county records. Of that, $106,185 was paid to Glaser Associates of Cincinnati for a study of potential jail sites, as well as an evaluation of the design and size of a new jail.
2 SITES WERE REJECTED
Last year, opposition from suburban Kenton County residents helped kill two proposed jail sites, in Elsmere and in south Covington at Interstate 275 and Ky. 17, or the 3L Highway.
While Covington leaders have said they would prefer the 3L site, county officials have said that site is no longer an option. Instead, the county is now focusing its attention on four or five undisclosed sites north of 20th Street.
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