A 64-bed addition to Jackson County Jail is ahead of schedule and within its budget.
Jackson County Sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Whitbeck said the project would be finished before the end of the calendar year, which puts it months ahead of an expected spring completion date after initial cost snags. Cells are installed, the roof is finished and brickwork on the addition’s exterior is 99 percent complete, Whitbeck said.
The addition, located on the west side of the courthouse, is expected to give Jackson County enough room to house an expanding local prisoner population and give space to continue housing contract prisoners from the US Marshals Service and Union County.
The additional five dozen beds are expected to generate more than $600,000 annually to be used to pay debt service on the bonds.
“Between the two, the prisoner revenue is paying the note on the bonds we used to pay for these additions,” Whitbeck said.
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Jackson County sold $3 million in recovery zone bonds to fund the construction and improvement projects. The county was left with roughly $2.8 million after closing costs and other expenses.
The Jackson County Board in March approved Fager-McGee Commercial Construction of Murphysboro as the project’s general contractor. Hurst-Roche Engineers Inc. of Marion is the project’s architect.
