This expansion will be built right behind the current building, which was completed in 2005.
This is pre-foundation work. Construction will begin in earnest next week, finishing spring of 2026. No one is happier than Sheriff Noah Robinson to see real work beginning.
“For a long time, this has been a jail on paper,” he said. “And so actually seeing the ground being leveled off, and the ground compacted and a rock being poured, is a real visible indication that we're finally underway.”
The project was initiated by former Sheriff Dave Wedding. He championed the project to stave off the overcrowding of the current jail which forces inmates to be housed at other detention facilities, at a cost to the county.
The new facility will add about 170 beds to the 512 of the current facility. Elected in late 2022, Robinson tossed out the original design to include more room for mental health support facilities among other changes.
The original design cost was $500,000, with increases along the way. He said this new design adds to the previous design costs but the new designs are more efficient.
“…it allows actually more inmates to be kept inside the facility without expanding the footprint, while at the same time adding a mental health unit. So I think the concession was pretty pretty reasonable.”
He’s quick to credit Wedding for making this project possible, along with the County Commission and Council.
Robinson describes the new design as a “half pizza” with that little plastic table in the center representing the jail administration.
“Each one of those individual pizza slices or a housing unit. And so it's a great way to amplify your manpower without having to have more manpower.”
“Manpower” has also been a challenge at the jail.
But each housing unit will contain 32 inmates, and these units can have a specific profile. Separating profiles can be very important — separating men and women, inmates with violent tendencies, inmates from rival gangs will all be in separate units.
There will be a 32-person substance abuse recovery unit. Robinson needed a focus on mental health in this new facility. There will be a specially-designed 10-person mental health unit resembling the State Hospital, not a jail.
Vanderburgh County isn’t the only new jail in progress. The Warrick County Jail broke ground in April.
Gibson County broke ground in late 2023.
Posey County has the newest existing jail, completed in 2018. Henderson County’s jail was completed in 1996, with the latest addition in 2008.
Robinson said they are waiting on final construction bids to nail down an exact cost. He says the overall project is about $35 million, with $4 million for a new Coroner's Office.
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