Jail Project Updates

The development team is planning to submit a land use application later this year. Staff understands the applicant is currently planning to make a second informational presentation prior to filing the formal application.

Here’s the audio in case you care to listen for yourself.

RECAP OF PRESENTATION AND QUESTIONS

Since I wasn’t there and I’m not familiar with the voices, this is going to be a brief recap. They had a slide presentation – but its not in legistar and accessible to the public at this time.

They say they are going to go over activities going on, processes with the city approval and meetings with the neighborhood.  This meeting is to get input for the project.  They are moving forward with the South Tower version of the project, which is a challenging site.

SCHEDULE/ACTIVITES

The schedule is that they started the schematic phase in July, they will be working on design through November, then they will do the cost estimate and make sure they are on budget and looking at staffing.  After that they will go into the design development phase where they will get more folks involved and have a lot more detail.  They will come back in about 3 weeks to show exterior design images. As well as some of the interior images.

Major activities in the past 3.5 months are:

• Detailed, “user-role-up-your-sleeve” work sessions, reworking the plans
• Looking at engineering systems, primarily the structural system
• Looking at existing jail facilities in the state and nationally to see example facilities
• Meeting with detention contractors and security electronics contractors
• They are looking at using prefabricated modular steel cells

DESIGN UPDATE

They show the concept plan.  They are doing room layouts and more details like doors, secure vestibules, officer stations, etc.  They show the 4th floor where the medical beds will be.

They have been looking at Huber facilities, for entry and found “open booking” as a new idea and they took county staff to see it and they liked the idea and they reworked the booking area.  They show how the materials will be processed for the cells.  They had prefabricated cells brought to the Dane County Parking lot to look at.  They can bring them back to show again if people are interested.  They are looking at some cells that have a “more normative, less institutional” feel to them.  (They are showing slides and its very unfortunate that it’s not available in an easily accessible way.)  They say the boxes will get brought in and they will build the structure then they will stack the boxes and roll them in to the floors.  They describe that it is a very tight fit.

They show how the steel doors are made including the factory process.  They say that this was important to see to make sure the doors don’t need future maintenance.  They also saw plumbing fixtures.  They say they are looking at less-institutional fixtures.

They also are looking into electronics and the door secure system.  He shows what controls how the doors open and close.  He says they can have cost savings by modularizing this and the cells.

They also looked at water control features to prevent the inmates form overflowing they system and they have automatic shut offs.  They are installing these in some of the cells now and it helps save water over time.

One of the largest challenges they are still working through.  There is an electrical vault in the ramp to the court house that is 25 ft. by 30 ft.  That is sitting on the edge fo the hole they have to dig for the jail.  They need a solution to re-service the electrical systems for the court house.  They are looking at areas to put it.

They have been looking at the exterior context and massing and they have almost a rubix cube.  How do you treat that cubic mass in a downtown environment is the big question.  They can look at other places downtown for color, materials and scale and how the ground level is treated.  Being pedestrian friendly will be something the city will be “keen to hear about”.  They show the site and the house they will take out and then put back.  On the south elevation of the building they can have as much glass and openings as they want because they don’t have buildings next to them.  On the other sides they are limited to the openings they can have.  That will be in the next round of exterior images.

One of the other big challenges is the capitol view height limit restriction where they can’t build above the base of the dome.  Downtown Madison is very keen on that as you are probably all aware with projects that have run into hiccups for not meeting that standard.  They are paying close attention to it and at the moment they are within inches of their roof parapet being which is tricky because of construction tolerances and the way concrete and steel get built.  Inches is not where they want to be so they are looking at ways to thin their floor slabs and structure.  Some of the challenges is ceiling heights.  They more they squish the floor to floor heights the lower the ceilings get.  They can’t get too low to make it a usable floor.

They show the columns and how they impact the location of the building.  They are trying to decide how far to the left and right they can build the tower without negatively impacting the courthouse and the house.  They put their columns in a way to be able to drive in and out of the parking.  The required exits that are required they can’t do anything about and they need two truck docks.  They pushed the overhead door back so pedestrians and cars would interact better at the street level. (Sorry about the voices in the hallway on the audio . . . that is people at the Visions Liquor license hearing)  He says the grade of the site make it so that the dock is at one level to meet the street and have to back the truck down.  They then have to have a lift to get up to the next dock.  He says the grading is very challenging.

Someone asks about the exits?  They are emergency exits.  He says there are long unused corridors that can be used for areas for evacuation, they are holding areas so they don’t dump inmates into the street in an emergency situation and they will have time to get a bus to “load them up and haul them away” in a safe and secure way.  There is an advantage to having that space, even tho it looks like wasted space.

A woman’s voice asks if it can be used for additional intake instead of just an emergency exit.  He says they are looking at it, and they are trying to use every square inch because it is so tight, its an excellent question.

The arrangement of the floors is the same as they showed them months ago.  All mechanical air handling systems, IT, electrical systems are all in the intermediate level between the there upper level housing areas, the two tiered mezzanine floors they talked about and the additional housing units 1-4.  And support spaces below that.  He shows additional plans.  They are looking at elevation studies to design the exterior that they will see next time around.

He says some of the things the city and Urban Design Commission will be interested in is the “long views”, so the next time they get together they will show images of design.

They look at the floor plans and the layouts of each of the levels.  They show the non-contact visitation (glass barrier), they say they will have this on each of the floors with housing units.  They worked that into the plans successfully but it has been a challenge to get as many as they might need.  The visitation will work the same way as it works now.  All visitors come through public entrance off Doty Street.  They will rework to improve contact as well as video visitation and the professionals/attorneys/counselor interaction rooms.  They are still revising that this week and will be done by the end of the week.  They show the new Huber entry level where they will change out and go up to the housing unit.  They show the contact visitation area that will also have some video contact booths.  They show the new public elevator that will go up to the rest of the floor and there will be a small public lobby for each area and then there will be non-contact visitation booths.  Even on the 3rd floor where they are not doing much where the Huber dorms will stay pretty much the same, but they will have through the glass visitation areas.  When they go to the tower there will be a public lobby where they have non-contact visitation.  One of the things that makes it challenging is that they need space for utility systems and the columns and they need to get doors into the spaces and they don’t always line up.

Carousel Bayrd asks about the Huber space.  Once this is built, down the road, would they do day Huber check-in space in this area.  Sheriff Dave Mahoney says that they come in and change their clothes.  They put their civilian clothes in a locker and then go to the next room to put on jail clothes to the two don’t cross in the facility.  This is work release, not a day check-in.  Doesn’t sound like this would work for what she is thinking about.  More clarifications, this is the function that exists at the Ferris Center that they need to bring downtown.  More clarifications.  Linda Hoskins asks if they will still have the same opportunities that they have at the Ferris center.  Sheriff says they will have enhanced security so they can’t smuggle in contraband. They also show the employee entrance.  More clarifications.  There are concerns about so much foot traffic all in one space.  They tried to put Huber on the other side, but the ramp and exit corridors didn’t work with that.  There were concerns about foot and car traffic and more discussion.

He shows the medical unit.  They have looked at many designs and worked with some of the forefront thought leaders in developing the floor plan.  It has evolved nicely.  They have male medical and mental health with different types of housing units depending upon the needs and the female are separate.  Some cells have single or triple access around the beds depending upon how serious the medical situation is.  They also have negative pressure rooms for people with certain illnesses where they need to be housed in pressurization cells and an intervening vestibule for the air pressure to work right.  They also show where the direct supervision nursing and deputy staff will be to monitor.  They have a back service support area for the staff and medical support needs for things like soiled linen and storage and medications and things like that. They also have dayroom space.  On the clinic side there is a space where they can do exams, where they can bring inmates from general population floors where they can do dental work and medical exams. There are also support spaces you would find in a clinic.  Paul Rusk asks how much natural light they will have.  The speaker says where they will have some for in the cells and in the recreation spaces.  There will be spaces where there is natural light.  They are also looking at sky lights.  They have half height walls and they are studying if they should be fall walls.  They are balancing privacy with visibility.  They will have 3D presentations next time.  Someone clarifies that mental health and medical are separate units.  Someone asks if they are using medical expertise for the design, they say yes.  There were challenges in working the layout to have less posts for the unit.  In the concepts they had twice as many.  More clarification questions about daylight.

Speaker moves on to multiprogramming space for programming, education, spiritual and recreation areas.  He is highlights a few of the floors.  The dayroom will be used for some programming but they have medium to large size multipurpose spaces.  On the “youthful inmate floor” they have the high school adjacent to that so its very accessible.  One each of the floors in the tower they have as large of a rec space as they can provide, driving natural light from the ends of the unit.  They will have some natural ventilation.  They also have an additional classroom, programming, educational room and multipurpose space in between, so it can be accessed from the housing units as well as other floors.  They are trying to provide the most usability of the space to as many inmates as possible.  They multipurpose space is also the dayroom.

He shows images of the two tiered inmate areas.  He shows how they will be supervised with the deputies right out there with the inmates and being able to see all the cells.  He shows the utility chase and how they will access that area separate from the inmate space for maintenance.  More clarifications.

Now they show more images of how the day space will look, as well as seating, dining, food service, visitation and exercise space.  He says that they really try to connect nature to the people in the space.  In terms of windows and daylight, but also the shapes and textures, patterns, murals, softer finishes, acoustics, etc.  That is what is driving the interior design. They can talk more when they get into it but he shows how they are taking into account how color impacts behavior and mood and emotion.  He shows murals that “add life to the space”  They are thinking the color comes in with the furniture and carpeting in the seating areas.  He shows the showers and the screens.  Where to put TVs.  He says there is some good carpet that holds up.  He says there are different ways to treat the ceilings and have direct or indirect light.  They are brining ideas together and will share more images in the future.

CITY APPROVAL PROCESS

They had their first Urban Design submittal that show the building massing and percentage of openings and some of the traffic and building placement and height issues.  They will have the first informational meeting, get feedback and then decide how many more informational meetings they need and they will submit the exterior design after they meet with the committees on the 19th.  If all goes well he shows different scenarios on how this would all play out.  They want final city approval end of March or early April.  That means they would start construction documents shortly after and they will have the input and requirements of the city nailed down.  He  says they also need to be talking with the community.  They have an initial meeting set up for November with the Bassett District Neighborhood group, they have met with the alder Mike Verveer last week and he laid out the neighborhood involvement process.  He also says that the city will require a large postcard type meeting, the target date for that is December.  Carousel Bayrd asks how supervisors and these committees will be alerted to the neighborhood meetings, so they can attend or participate if they wish to.  I didn’t really hear the answer, but they say the goal is to be as inclusive as they can and get the information out as they get scheduled.  The Capitol Neighborhoods and Bassett District will set up a smaller committee that will be involved in reviewing the project.

NEXT STEPS

Goal is to finish design phase documents in the next few weeks and start on parallel process with two cost estimators.  They will update their staffing plan and then in November/early December they will check they are still on budget, they don’t anticipate any issues at this point.  Areas of renovation have grown a little bit, particularly on the first floor.  They may have to do some negotiating there.  They would like to target the 19th for the next meeting with the two committees.  The focus will be on the shorter presentation of exterior design images.  They will continue to work on the design in 2020 and they would like to put together a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the detention equipment contractor and hire the security equipment contractor.  There are 3-4 different contractors that can take on this scale project and they would like them on board next year to assist with design which would lead to a better outcome and they would work with the general contractor.  They are working on that early next year.  The relocation of the electrical vault for the Courthouse is a separate project that needs to happen sooner rather than later, they are looking at finish up ? around early spring and going out for bid on that project so it doesn’t hold them up.

QUESTIONS

Paul Rusk asks if the high school teachers have been talked to about the schooling area.  I think they said yes.  Almost every group in the jail has had a focus group to talk about their needs in the jail.

A woman says when she saw the prefab cells, she saw indirect supervision and solitary confinement, that’s what the images looked like to her.  She knows reducing both of those was high on the list of goals and she wants to make sure it ends up different.  Sheriff Dave Mahoney says they are only there when they are sleeping, during the day they are in the large opening.  He says except for the administrative confinement, which may mean one individual in one room.  He says there is a sub day room that is all glass and overlooks the large day room.  That is for up to 4 individuals that can’t be in the general population – behavioral or what have you.  They have the dual purpose is that those in the sub day room because they had behavior issues will want to be in the general population area but also those in the general population area will want to follow the rules so they aren’t in the sub-dayroom.  It gets them away from solitary confinement for 23 hours in an individual cell.  Same woman (sorry I wasn’t there to see who was speaking) and Mahoney continue exchanging comments.  Mahoney says that from 5am to 10pm they are in the general population room and the rest of the time they are sleeping. The big difference is today they are in concrete slab 23 hours a day.

Krause asks if people can come and go out of their room or will they be locked?  Can they visit other rooms.  I didn’t hear an answer, they go back to answering the other person’s question.  He says they can come in and out of their rooms, recreation and programming space, its all an active community, the deputy will be moving throughout the housing unit.  The only time the inmates are locked up is when everyone is sleeping.  They say this is an entirely different environment than they have now.  If something does go wrong, they can make everyone go to their rooms and lock it until the area is stabilized.  Apparently the photos make look more narrow than it is.  They have 28 feet.  The daylight really helps the space.

Linda Hoskins says that this looks like it will help prevent suicides, there will be more activity.

A voice asks if the colors and designs will be applied to the individuals rooms?  Yes, that is why they are looking at different styles.  Color can really make a huge difference and lighting is a huge key to this.  If they do it right there will be a nice interior feel.  Mahoney says they are working with a lighting company that specializes in the impact of lighting on human behavior and affecting melatonin, mood, health, etc.

Dorothy Krause asks if there is solar tube technology that they can use to pull more light from outside to interior cells?  Also, what kind of cost savings is it for the pre-built cells as opposed to built on site?  They say that the solar tubes are used from the rooftop and they could look at that for the upper 8th floor, but all the other areas, they will look into it.  They say there are fixtures that look like the outside and other ways to do that.  They say it’s not cost savings but a better way to control the cost and know they are on budget.  He says some of the advantages that speak to the risks of the project – its a tight constrained downtown site – the more work they can do off site helps improve the quality of the finished cells, better, long lasting finishes.  The won’t be getting different bids on those types of things from different sources, it will help control the cost and schedule.  Safety is a factor.  They don’t just bring the cells, but the doors, the controls, they glazing, the furniture that need to be well designed and thought out early in the design – and it won’t be left to the open bid market.  They will have a better chance of getting the outcome they need.

Someone asks about the mental health space, wants to know how much programming space is in that area.

They invite someone else to speak about how the prefab  cells could be concrete or steel.  They also looked at other manufacturers that have a penalized modular wall system like in an office environment.  They will have to use that in some areas where they can’t slide boxes in.  When they looked at the prefab concrete cells it got to the point where it was so heavy that the foundations and columns got so much bigger and they lost more space.  The precast concrete cell idea fell away pretty quickly.  That is what they did the precast steel cell idea.  They were originally concerned there would only be one good vendor, but they found three.

They go back to the programming space in mental health.  They say there is the dayroom space, a “little” room that can be programming space.  They have some shared spaces.  The guy says “yeah, I”m not seeing much in this particular unit . . . at the moment”.  The person says that is a concern so they can have group sessions.  The person who asked the question says they worked for the state and they had a space that was glassed in right in the middle and that didn’t make for good group therapy session and he’d be interested to see what can be done to achieve a little more programming space in the mental health units.  “Yeah, agreed” was the answer.  They says the biggest challenge is the floor plate is so tight and they want to get a certain number of beds.  There are shared programming spaces on other floor but its hard in the medical/mental health arena.  They will have to work at that.

Rusk asks if an examine room could be used for both?  They say it depends upon how you outfit it.  The program space might be more important than they exam room.  They say they might need the exam room for one on one contact with the patients.  They seem to be giving feedback that they need both.

“Julie” asks about flexibly cells, so if we reduce the jail population, what do the prefab cells do, seems like they would be able to adjust and use the cells for other purposes.  They say they are reducing the bed count to 922.  It is possible to take the plumbing fixtures and bunks out of the cells and they could be used as blue rooms, small library spaces, small get away spaces and lounge areas.  There is an opportunity to use them as smaller support spaces in the overall housing unit but to take the boxes out would be involved construction., but you could cut holes between them.  Someone says that if they could close cell space it would become programming areas.  They say the boxes should last 50 plus years without too much trouble.

Someone asks who is on the committee to develop the RFP, develop the scoring criteria and  who will do the scoring.  They say they haven’t developed that yet.  It’s “to be determined” but they are open to suggestions.  They say someone from the jail committee should be on it.

Rusk asks for public comment.  Someone asks if they were going to respond to Ralph Jackson’s suggestions.  #10 in particular.  They say they just responded to that.  The question was about reduction in beds and how the spaces could be re-used.

They talk about shade control devices for the windows.  They don’t think they can project over the sidewalk.  They think that glazing and material selection will handle the concerns. They say that if the light is reflected to the ceiling it can get further into the space.

#7 was the resource desk for people who are released.  He shows the area where they will be released to Carroll St. and his suggestion that it be closer to the release area is a good suggestion.  They have reworked the area 10 or 15 times and they are still working it.  They aren’t done, there is a pole for the conveyer that holds the laundry bags with property and cutting a hole in the concrete floor is going to be a challenge.  There is a lot of competition for the tight area.  That is a good thing to look at.

They say that if they were building on a new site the area they are looking at would be three times as large.  They have seen them huge for jails that are much smaller than this, it will be an ongoing challenge.

They kicked around the idea of closing Carroll St. and building into Caroll St. but they don’t think the City would be too excited about that idea.  Someone says that’s actually not a bad idea.

They remind people not to reply all to emails.

They ask for a copy of the presentation – they say it will be online tomorrow.  (It isn’t.  I asked the Sheriff and he says its supposed to be on their site and I asked Tubbs and he said it was supposed to be attached to the minutes, but I could not find it.)

They say the next meeting will be on the 19th.  Sounds like all the meetings will be a joint meeting going forward and they may include another committee (I missed who, I think CJC)