Lock Up
By K. Robert Wendel

When the Phoenix office of Durrant Architects teamed with Sletten Companies' Arizona office to design and construct an expansion for the Yavapai County Criminal Justice Facility, efficiency and safety were at the top of the list.

"We are trying to make it so that they can do as much as can be safely done with the least amount of staff," said Scott Bohning, a managing principal for Durrant Architects.
"We are organizing the building so the staff doesn't have to escort inmates and we take advantage of line-of-site supervision as much as possible."

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Work on the new $16 million, 480-bed detention facility expansion started in February 2002, and the three-phased >> project should be completed in December. The facility is about 2-mi. west of Interstate 17 on State Route 260.

The facility is needed. Yavapai County is a rapidly growing area north of Phoenix that was recently designated an official "Metropolitan Statistical Area." With the growth has come more crime.

The criminal justice project also includes a upgraded administration building as well as a renovation of the existing buildings on site.

Designers used a combination of cast-in-place concrete for the first level, which features two decks of cells in an open-bay configuration, and load-bearing masonry for the second level, also with two decks of cells. Structural steel framing was also employed.

The jail's original phase utilized concrete tilt-up construction, but on this phase, architects chose the combination of cast-in-place, masonry and steel framing.

"It's an issue with insulation and expansion joints in facilities where we have used tilt-up," Bohning said. "You have to allow the building to move on the outside face, which is hard to do when you are trying to keep joints from opening up in the middle of the cells."

Crews from Forest Lakes, Ariz.-based Pueblo West Contracting LLC and Buesing Corp. of Phoenix teamed to perform site utilities and sitework, with crews rerouting a wash around the complex and adding new water and sewer lines.

In the interest of maintenance, instead of a central plant, mechanical designers chose roof top packages for heating and cooling because Yavapai County technicians were familiar with the units and are able to maintain them. To stop the potential threat of airborne diseases, the facility also features cells with negative air flow.

"Initially, inmates are taken to cells that have a negative airflow to stop airborne diseases like tuberculosis," said Sletten Companies superintendent Ray Richardson.
"It's one more safety factor for the staff.