Jail planning ongoing, but lawsuit lingers

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Editor’s note: This is the first article in a two-part series about the Brookings County Detention Center expansion and the civil suit between Brookings County and the City of Brookings regarding the project.

BROOKINGS – “To be or not to be, that is the question,” asked Hamlet. The same adage applies to the current discussion about the progression of the Brookings County Detention Center expansion and how it will affect and function within the Brookings community: some want the jail to expand at its current site, and others want the jail to be relocated entirely.

Many claim the jail’s expansion will better the community with the expediency of justice – with the courthouse being directly next to the facility – and will also save the county and city substantial sums of money. 

Others in the community say that the jail will encroach upon the preservation of the Brookings County courthouse, be unsafe and would be an eyesore in the neighborhood.

However, there’s still some uncertainty as to whether the jail expansion on site will actually take place. The Brookings County Commission has appealed a Brookings City Council decision this summer stating that a building permit is required for the jail expansion and that the council disapproves of the expansion of the current jail.

Expansion design 

Brookings County commissioners are working on finalizing the design of the jail expansion, led by architect Bruce Schwartzman with the architectural firm BKV Group.

The timeline for the project is to finish all finite details of the renovations and the expansion for the jail by mid-December. The intended date for beginning phase one of construction is April 1, 2020. Between the design phase and the construction phase is when all of the bidding for labor and components will take place.

As of Sept. 23, the total project budget is at $15,265,760.

The designs show the jail expanding north into the current jail parking lot/drop off area and the basketball court. The project is also planned to expand to the west, to bring the jail’s west edge flush with the front of the courthouse. The reduction of “green space” available on the courthouse lawn will diminish from 78,890 square feet to 78,521, a total reduction of 369 square feet.

The county commissioners decided during their Oct. 15 work session – where the architects discussed more of the particulars of the construction process, materials and the design itself – to go with “Option 1.” To see the options that were presented to the commission, visit www.brookingscountysd.gov/agendacenter. 

Option 1 and Option 2 did not feature any changes to the internal structure or function of the jail; they were purely aesthetic options.

Option 1 featured faux windows and a more detailed exterior than Option 2. It was designed with the intent of blending with the surrounding public and government buildings and courthouse, said Schwartzman, whereas Option 2 was much more utilitarian in nature.

Both options included a wide array of gardens, trees and other foliage so as to make the area more aesthetically pleasing.

Internally, the concepts for the new jail differ dramatically from the current layout of the jail. The expansion designs offer more classrooms, juvenile detention rooms, more visitation rooms, wider hallways, more beds (upping the current 32 available beds to 54) as well as more space for inmates, offices for specific designated uses (e.g. fingerprinting) and a kitchen. The jail currently has all of its food for the inmates catered in which costs them around $25,000 per month, Sheriff Marty Stanwick said. Having a kitchen where they can cook and prep all of the food is expected to reduce that cost to $4,000 per month.

The designs also feature a dramatic change in the way the inmates are monitored. There will be two levels of cells that wrap around a center point (imagine the way pieces of a pie are cut). That center point is the main control room that has access to each cell as well as most of the controls within the entire jail. This design functions so that the officers within the center point can more easily monitor inmates as well as more readily respond to them should an issue arise.

Tour shows space crunch

The Brookings Register was invited for a tour of the Brookings County Detention Center last month, led by Sheriff Stanwick, Jail Administrator Bart Sweebe and Commissioner Mike Bartley. The goal was to showcase the current status of the jail’s conditions and what improvements are needed.

The current control room for all the locked and monitored exits and cameras at the jail is also the location for the “24/7s” Stanwick said; these are the individuals who need to come in and test their ankle monitors and/or do a breathalyzer test every day, every-other day or once every week. Through a single exit – that is also the main entrance for the officers and bringing in inmates –two small windows are used to process a couple hundred people a day. 

Stanwick and Sweebe both said that the congestion and inefficiency of the area needs to be rectified and will be with the new expansion.

Jails are legally required to have 33 1/2 square feet of “unencumbered” space per inmate, Sweebe said. “We’re nowhere near that,” Stanwick said. “The original jail was built for 30 inmates, but by square footage we should only hold 15.” 

Sometimes the jail has held more than 50 inmates.

Another area of the jail that is seeing significant foot traffic and issues is the designated fingerprint room. Due to the influx of inmates, attorneys, officers, visiting family members and classes, this room is more often than not used for a variety of meetings. This creates scheduling issues for anyone who needs an available space and can only use it for a small allotted amount of time, Stanwick said. 

The county jail works with various programs at South Dakota State University, like the School of Nursing, as well as the Brookings School District to supply them with a fingerprint registration area. Stanwick said they have around 10,000 people come to the jail every year for fingerprinting.

The visitation room isn’t much larger than a broom closet. It has three windows accompanied by metal stools and phones to speak through.

A couple of the maintenance hallways in the jail are about 2 feet wide. It is difficult enough to do maintenance work in these hallways, Stanwick said, but sometimes they have to use the hallways to move inmates around.

One of the biggest issues expressed by Stanwick regarding the current jail was the lack of space related to the classification of inmates. The severity of a crime – felonies and misdemeanors – determines the classification of the status/title of the inmate. Those who have been charged with a felony and those who have been charged with a misdemeanor cannot be in the same room, hallway, classroom or be transported together. The same goes for the separation of men and women in jail.

The issue becomes quite challenging when there are more inmates charged with felonies than there are inmates charged with misdemeanors, Sweebe said. That is much more the case currently, and then there is no choice but to house the differently classified inmates together. 

The current classroom can seat 10 comfortably but is usually holding more. Candie Kisley, a retired nurse, uses the space in her role as a volunteer teacher at the county jail. She works with the inmates specifically on the Peace Education Program through the Prem Rawat Foundation for the past four years. This program is designed to address recidivism.

Kisley has helped several hundred inmates over the years and considers it to be highly effective.

The Peace Education Program is being used in more than 2,500 correctional facilities in North America, according to its website. The Brookings County Detention Center was the first jail facility in South Dakota to implement the program.

The Brookings County jail offers several different classes that focus on recovery from addiction, recidivism, religious courses and GED classes. The jail works alongside Brookings Behavioral Health and Wellness for any individuals or inmates under a mental health hold. 

Up next: A closer look at Brookings County’s appeal of a pair of resolutions passed by the Brookings City Council in July regarding the jail expansion.

Contact Matthew Rhodes at mrhodes@brookingsregister.com.