$83.2 million Tarrant County Jail Looks Nothing Like High-Tech Lockup
FORT WORTH -- When people tell Clarence Pressley they like the looks of the new county courthouse under construction in the heart of downtown, he's happy to tell them they are mistaken.
He's glad to hear the compliments, but happier still to tell them it's Tarrant County's new $83.2 million maximum-security jail that's being built at 600 W. Weatherford St.
"That's a success. We didn't want it to look like a jail," said Pressley, assistant director of building services for Tarrant County.
While the 207,700-square-foot, five-floor building will include 444 maximum-security cells to house the county's "worst of the worst" prisoners, the building looks nothing like a high-tech lockup.
The first floor is clad in the same distinctive pink granite used on the county's historic 1895 courthouse just a few blocks away, and lots of attractive paned windows line the upper stories. But there won't be any prisoners waving to passers-by from those unbarred windows when the jail opens for business in June, said David Phillips, county facilities manager.
The only daylight inmates see will be from narrow ports inside the cells, which are configured within an inner box of the building. There is a maintenance corridor with cell utilities on the interior perimeter next to the windows.
The noncorrectional look pleases Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson, who faced what has been called "the political fight of his life" to get the jail built next to the existing Tarrant County Corrections Center.
"We were very much under the gun to make a building that downtown will be proud of," he said.
Downtown proponents didn't want another jail in the core of downtown. Anderson insisted, though, that maximum-security prisoners needed to be housed next to the Corrections Center, which is next to the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center, which holds the criminal courts.
Prisoners will move through a sky bridge connecting the two jails and through underground tunnels linking all three buildings.
"You don't want to be moving your 'worst of the worst' criminals on the streets. People don't escape from jails; they escape when you are moving them. Here, they never see the light of day," Anderson said. "The jail is a tremendously secure facility in both design and building function."
For prisoners, the new jail will offer a Spartan existence.
There are no dayrooms for watching television. A TV in the kitchen will be available only to trusties, Phillips said.
When inmates have visitors, their conversations will be via video monitors to eliminate the transfer of contraband, Anderson said.
Most prisoners will be locked up for 23 hours a day in their cells, where they will also eat their meals. They'll get one hour a day for exercise and showering.
Inmates in separation cells won't even get that perk: Those units have individual showers.
The jail will include 96 "sorely needed" medical beds, Anderson said.
The 30 existing medical beds in the Corrections Center will be devoted to women. The fifth-floor sky bridge will connect the two medical units.
The facility could be the world's first jail to earn gold LEED certification for sustainability, Phillips said.
Pulpers in the kitchen will allow water used to rinse inmate trays to be recirculated.
Large "energy wheels" on the roof will pre-condition fresh air using exhaust air that has already been tempered, Phillips said. That has allowed the county to buy 20 percent smaller chillers to cool the building. The chillers are also highly efficient because the bearings, which "float in space" using magnets, create less friction.
The massive jail kitchen will be capable of producing 16,500 meals a day and will provide food for the county's other four jails as well.
Tarrant County's jails house a daily average of 3,300 inmates, Anderson said, adding that 75 to 80 percent of his $101 million budget is spent on jails.
County commissioners approved 21 new Sheriff's Department positions and four facilities workers to staff the new jail.
Gideon Toal is the architect of record for the project. David M. Schwarz Architects handled the exterior design (the company also designed the exterior of the Family Law Center). Wiginton, Hooker and Jeffry Architects designed the jail's interior, and Summit Engineering designed the electrical and mechanical systems. Gilbane Building Co. and Pegasus Texas teamed up to manage the project.
The building will be partially turned over to the Sheriff's Department in November or December to start training. Construction should be completed in April, and the jail should be fully operational in May or June, Anderson said.
"The day that jail opens, this county will be a safer place," he said.
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