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More than 100 inmates were moved this week into Mecklenburg's new Jail Annex to help relieve jail overcrowding.
The annex is designed to house 640 male inmates. Only one of the housing units has been completed. The shell of the other unit has been built and will be finished when more jail beds are needed. Each unit is 36,000 square feet and will house up to 320 minimum and low-medium security inmates.
The jail has so far cost $14 million. When completed, the price tag will be about $17 million. The jail walls are built with two layers of 5/8-inch high-impact drywall reinforced with steel rebar and concrete. Surrounding the jail are two fences more than 10 feet high, topped with razor wire.
On Monday, 117 minimum-security inmates were transferred to Jail Annex, located on Spector Drive next to Jail North in north Charlotte.
Mecklenburg County may need about 4,500 new jail beds by 2030, consultants told Mecklenburg commissioners in April 2008. The sheriff and his staff are now working on plans for a new jail to meet the county's bed needs in the future.
Jail Central in uptown Charlotte, the county's biggest facility, has 1,906 beds. Jail North has 614 beds. The combined population of the two jails was about 2,230 this week. That's about as many inmates as the two jails can hold at any one time without having inmates sleep on the floor because jail officials must separate the inmates by gender, age and medical conditions, Mecklenburg Sheriff Chipp Bailey said.
“Jail Annex relieves the overcrowding and provides a safer and more secure environment,” Bailey said.
On Wednesday, county commissioners toured Jail Annex.
Commissioner Vilma Leake was impressed. “It's not costing an arm and a leg,” she said. “And it serves the purpose.”
“I think it's great,” commissioner Karen Bentley said. “It's very cost-effective and functional.”
