Designed to hold 148 inmates – including eight women – the Sarpy County Jail was built in the late 1980s and has been operating at capacity since the 1990s.

The facility has recently been averaging 220 inmates a day, county spokeswoman Megan Stubenhofer-Barrett said. But a new facility promises to expand jail capacity to about 400 in Nebraska’s fastest-growing county.

“The need has been there for some time,” Stubenhofer-Barrett said.

Because of the overcrowding at the jail, inmates are sometimes transported to other jurisdictions for boarding – totaling about $500,000 a year in additional costs. Sarpy County jail has several programs to ease the overcrowding of their current facility, including work release, diversion and electronic monitoring. Those community corrections programs have between 250 to 350 people at any given time out of the jail population.

Expanded programming space is planned for the new facility for healthcare, programming and services, with hopes that those investments will reduce recidivism.

Don Kelly, chairman of the Sarpy County Board of Commissioners, said the existing jail is outdated, undersized and continually found out of compliance by state regulators.

“We need it,” Kelly told The Daily Record. “Nobody wants to build a jail. How do you pay for something that costs $80 million without raising taxes? We figured that out. It’s going to be state of the art and larger than we need today but we realize the population of Sarpy County will double and the needs for a correctional facility that can support that growth is also needed.”

Kelly said the county has hired a construction manager at risk to keep cost controls in place and construction schedule on the timeline.

“All the design is pretty well done, and it is supposed to open in 2022,” he said.

The final number of jail cells may fluctuate slightly depending on the final design, Stubenhofer-Barrett said. Additional staff will be hired, but the exact number will depend on the final design, too.

The county invested a lot of effort into the design of the facility, including dedicating space to help address inmates’ mental health needs.

“Security was obviously a key consideration, and this design allows us to keep our community, our staff and the inmates safe,” Commissioner Gary Mixan, vice chair of the County Board, said in a news release.

The board approved the schematic design in August, and current plans were presented Tuesday. The next step going into the meeting was finalizing the construction documents – keeping the county on track for a spring 2021 ground-breaking ceremony.

Among the aspects considered by officials is the potential impact of a future pandemic, as the current coronavirus pandemic has stressed operations at the current jail facility.

Inmates at the county jail don’t have their own cells, Stubenhofer-Barrett said, noting that jails follow different standards than state or federal prisons.

“We do have some longer term staying, but it is designed with dorm style rooms,” she said. “That’s one of the challenges – making people wear masks and staying 6 feet apart.”

Operating common rooms with social distancing has proved a challenge, Stubenhofer-Barrett said.

“It’s something we’ve looked at, but not providing common rooms and recreational areas is not an option,” she said. “We have to follow jail design standards.”

The new jail will be built next to the current facility near 84th Street and Highway 370 on the Sarpy County government campus, which includes the courthouse and administrative offices. The county picked the location in October 2019, noting it would minimize the impact on nearby property owners.

In December 2019, the county hired DLR Group to design the new facility and provide architectural services. A design team began working with DLR Group the next month, bringing together Stu DeLaCastro, director of administrative services; John Hubbard, director of corrections; Brian McCoy, Assistant director of facilities management; and Capt. Brian Richards, Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office, who is the designated project manager. JE Dunn Construction was hired as the construction manager in April 2020 to work alongside DLR Group.

JE Dunn agreed to a guaranteed maximum price for the construction of the jail. Kelly said that deal “guaranteed a fair price” for taxpayers, avoiding the risk of spending millions of dollars in unforeseen expenses.

“Our current jail is overcrowded and out of compliance with state standards,” he said. “Partnering with JE Dunn and the DLR Group brings together two great companies who specialize in criminal justice design and construction, and we look forward to working with them on this important project.”

Estimated costs of the project is $65 million. The project will be funded with a portion of the existing tax levy and inheritance tax revenue. The cost will include site preparation, design and construction. Around $6 million per year will be invested toward the project.

In conjunction with the construction project, the county also purchased an office building from Black Hills Energy at 1102 E. First St. in Papillion. The building allowed the county to consolidate additional office space it had been leasing, as well as to free up space in the courthouse. Additionally, two annex buildings are being converted into parking lots for the courthouse and jail, as construction on the new jail begins in their existing parking lot.

The current jail will remain in use until the new facility opens. 

Designed to hold 148 inmates – including eight women – the Sarpy County Jail was built in the late 1980s and has been operating at capacity since the 1990s.

The facility has recently been averaging 220 inmates a day, county spokeswoman Megan Stubenhofer-Barrett said. But a new facility promises to expand jail capacity to about 400 in Nebraska’s fastest-growing county.

“The need has been there for some time,” Stubenhofer-Barrett said.

Because of the overcrowding at the jail, inmates are sometimes transported to other jurisdictions for boarding – totaling about $500,000 a year in additional costs. Sarpy County jail has several programs to ease the overcrowding of their current facility, including work release, diversion and electronic monitoring. Those community corrections programs have between 250 to 350 people at any given time out of the jail population.

Expanded programming space is planned for the new facility for healthcare, programming and services, with hopes that those investments will reduce recidivism.

Don Kelly, chairman of the Sarpy County Board of Commissioners, said the existing jail is outdated, undersized and continually found out of compliance by state regulators.

“We need it,” Kelly told The Daily Record. “Nobody wants to build a jail. How do you pay for something that costs $80 million without raising taxes? We figured that out. It’s going to be state of the art and larger than we need today but we realize the population of Sarpy County will double and the needs for a correctional facility that can support that growth is also needed.”

Kelly said the county has hired a construction manager at risk to keep cost controls in place and construction schedule on the timeline.

“All the design is pretty well done, and it is supposed to open in 2022,” he said.

The final number of jail cells may fluctuate slightly depending on the final design, Stubenhofer-Barrett said. Additional staff will be hired, but the exact number will depend on the final design, too.

The county invested a lot of effort into the design of the facility, including dedicating space to help address inmates’ mental health needs.

“Security was obviously a key consideration, and this design allows us to keep our community, our staff and the inmates safe,” Commissioner Gary Mixan, vice chair of the County Board, said in a news release.

The board approved the schematic design in August, and current plans were presented Tuesday. The next step going into the meeting was finalizing the construction documents – keeping the county on track for a spring 2021 ground-breaking ceremony.

Among the aspects considered by officials is the potential impact of a future pandemic, as the current coronavirus pandemic has stressed operations at the current jail facility.

Inmates at the county jail don’t have their own cells, Stubenhofer-Barrett said, noting that jails follow different standards than state or federal prisons.

“We do have some longer term staying, but it is designed with dorm style rooms,” she said. “That’s one of the challenges – making people wear masks and staying 6 feet apart.”

Operating common rooms with social distancing has proved a challenge, Stubenhofer-Barrett said.

“It’s something we’ve looked at, but not providing common rooms and recreational areas is not an option,” she said. “We have to follow jail design standards.”

The new jail will be built next to the current facility near 84th Street and Highway 370 on the Sarpy County government campus, which includes the courthouse and administrative offices. The county picked the location in October 2019, noting it would minimize the impact on nearby property owners.

In December 2019, the county hired DLR Group to design the new facility and provide architectural services. A design team began working with DLR Group the next month, bringing together Stu DeLaCastro, director of administrative services; John Hubbard, director of corrections; Brian McCoy, Assistant director of facilities management; and Capt. Brian Richards, Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office, who is the designated project manager. JE Dunn Construction was hired as the construction manager in April 2020 to work alongside DLR Group.

JE Dunn agreed to a guaranteed maximum price for the construction of the jail. Kelly said that deal “guaranteed a fair price” for taxpayers, avoiding the risk of spending millions of dollars in unforeseen expenses.

“Our current jail is overcrowded and out of compliance with state standards,” he said. “Partnering with JE Dunn and the DLR Group brings together two great companies who specialize in criminal justice design and construction, and we look forward to working with them on this important project.”

Estimated costs of the project is $65 million. The project will be funded with a portion of the existing tax levy and inheritance tax revenue. The cost will include site preparation, design and construction. Around $6 million per year will be invested toward the project.

In conjunction with the construction project, the county also purchased an office building from Black Hills Energy at 1102 E. First St. in Papillion. The building allowed the county to consolidate additional office space it had been leasing, as well as to free up space in the courthouse. Additionally, two annex buildings are being converted into parking lots for the courthouse and jail, as construction on the new jail begins in their existing parking lot.

The current jail will remain in use until the new facility opens.