Jail Redesign Underway

With bids to build a new county jail exceeding the budget by more than $3.5 million, local officials are looking to model a jail design used in Greene County 10 years ago.

Construction managers, county officials, and architects met for two days last week in a process resulting in “drastic decisions” that will build a new Stone County jail within the $6 million budget allowed from a recent sales tax increase.

In a perfect scenario where new construction plans are drawn and approved, the project could break ground as early as October, Noacon principal and jail Director of Field Operations Wayne Harlan said.

“You’ve got to be able to build it, but you’ve also got to be able to operate it,” Harlan said, explaining the new design creates a facility less expensive to build, service, maintain, and operate than the originally proposed jail.

The new plan, now in design phase with HMN Architects of Kansas City, replicates procedures used in building a Greene County Jail where the security component of the facility is surrounded and enclosed by a pre-engineered metal building rather than a facility built with pre-cast concrete and bar joists.

Read the full story in the July 7, 2021, issue.