Dozens of companies in central Indiana want a shot at helping make the long-needed Johnson County jail expansion come to fruition.
The Johnson County Board of Commissioners opened the bids for the Johnson County Law Enforcement Center during a special meeting this week, and the three-person elected board is expected to make a decision in about two weeks on which companies will do the work.
The project is a much-needed expansion to the Johnson County jail, which is chronically overcrowded and is an issue that the state has ordered the county to fix.
The expansion project was bid in 10 categories, including site development, fire suppression and general trades. Multiple companies are competing for the work in all but two categories.
The exact cost of the jail will be known in about two weeks when the commissioners are expected to accept the bids. Bid combinations, along with other costs such as architectural fees and site testing, put the estimated cost between $20 and $25 million, which were the estimates county officials have operated on, Johnson County Commissioner Kevin Walls said.
Garmong Construction, which is overseeing the project, will check all the bids and make sure all the work that is needed is included in each bid. The construction company will then propose a final number and bid information to the commissioners, who will then decide whether to accept it, Walls said.
Construction could begin next spring, and the work is expected to take about a year to a year and a half to complete, Walls has said.
Residents who live and work in Johnson County are paying for the expansion with an income tax that has been in effect now for about six weeks.
For years, county officials and multiple sheriffs have grappled with how to address a chronic overcrowding issue at the jail. In 2010, voters rejected a $23 million referendum that would have added 400 beds to the existing 322 beds at the jail on Hospital Road in Franklin. Since then, the state has ordered the county to remedy the jail’s overcrowding issues.
A committee made up of county leaders, judges and law enforcement professionals who spent years studying how to fix the jail overcrowding decided expanding the existing facility would be the best option.
The expansion includes adding 264 beds in a new wing of the jail and pull-in bays for arresting officers, as well as revamping the intake and medical areas of the jail.
The expansion’s main feature is a new building that will be built to the west of the existing jail, connected by a walkway. The addition will include about 74 new cells on two floors. Those cells will be designed to hold two, four or six inmates, depending on size.
