Molinaro with rendereing of the DCJTC
POUGHKEEPSIE – Dutchess County Executive Marcus Molinaro updated the public on the progress of the new sheriff’s office and county jail on Tuesday night.
The new jail complex, known as the Dutchess County Justice and Transition
Center, is being touted by Molinaro as “the most comprehensive solution
to criminal justice reform” in New York State outside of the five
boroughs.
The much anticipated and debated project, designed to satisfy the state
requirements, will have room for at least 519 inmates with space to house
an additional 24 inmates. The long-term project is expected to be
fully functional by 2023, according to Molinaro.
“In order to improve the quality of life for the corrections officers, order to ensure that we have a more effective criminal justice system and ultimately a system focused on restorative justice, we need a new facility that is more efficient, more effective and safer and this facility allows us to save cost, and most importantly, allows us to provide the help and safety and support necessary to the staff and to the inmates in our care,” Molinaro said.
Sheriff Adrian “Butch” Anderson oversees the housing of county
inmates and is praising the project not only for the cost-savings but
the ability to help inmates receive an array of programming and treatments
designed to help them return to society with tools needed to become productive
members. The return of the GED program will be joined by several
drug, alcohol and anger management programs offered by a coalition of
county departments and outside agencies.
The project, authorized in 2016 by the legislature, required the relocation of the sheriff’s office to make room for the larger inmate facility. A decision was made to build the Dutchess County Law Enforcement Center right next to the current office. The new center will allow for the demolition of the former building to make way for the largest structure of the inmate complex.
The new home of the sheriff is slated to be fully operational this coming February and is tracking to be $2 million under the $36.5 million budget, according to the county’s Commissioner of Public Works, Robert Balkind.
Construction on the Justice and Transition Center is expected to begin in August 2019 and will take approximately three years. The total cost for the construction of both the Law Enforcement Center and the Justice and Transition Center is projected to be $192 million. When completed, the total operational costs are estimated to be $13.6 million less than the projected costs to continue to operate the current facility and house inmates in other facilities.
The total annual cost savings for taxpayers equates to $5.4 million annually for the new facility, when factoring the significant annual operational savings compared to debt service payments.
