Jail discussion will wait again
- June 9, 2015
- / Shannon Nickinson
- / government
Discussion about the Escambia County Jail's future will have to wait.
After an update in May, a follow-up conversation on the jail was pulled from the agenda for the Escambia County Commissioners committee of the whole meeting on June 11.
Kathleen Dough-Castro, public information manager for the county, said by email there are "too many moving parts still in play and Commissioner (Doug) Underhill is on active duty (with the National Guard) for the next two weeks, so he would be unable to participate."
Replacing the jail is a project with an estimated $161 million price tag.
Historic flooding last April led to a natural gas leak that caused an explosion in the 697-bed Central Booking and Detention Facility. That incident killed two inmates, paralyzed a corrections officer, injured 184 people and rendered the building unusable.
Commissioners are pursuing building a new jail with 1,476 beds, one big enough to accommodate the space that was in Central Booking as well as the existing jail, which remains in need of millions of dollars in upgrades itself.
The next round of local option sales tax funding included $37 million for upgrades and improvements at the main jail and $8 million in upgrades at Central Booking.
That money was spread over fiscal years 2018-2027.
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