HOT SPRINGS -- The transfer of inmates to the new Garland County jail is complete, officials said late Friday.
All inmates previously housed at the jail on Ouachita Avenue have been relocated to the new location on Albert Pike Road.
"At midnight on Monday, the Garland County Detention Center, located at 525 Ouachita Ave., was closed for booking and intake processing and the new detention center, 3564 Albert Pike Road, began accepting new arrestees," Deputy Scott Hinojosa said in a news release.
Hinojosa said nearly 200 inmates were relocated via transport vans from the old jail's housing units to the new housing units without a single notable incident.
"Transports were accomplished utilizing the highest degree of security and tactics by detention-center deputies. Transports occurred in staggered increments around the clock for a period of five days," he said.
During the past week, 67 arrests were processed at the new facility, and 49 inmates were released from custody while the detention staff operated both detention centers simultaneously, Hinojosa said, noting that detention administrators deemed the new facility fully operational as of 2:30 a.m. Friday.
Sheriff Mike McCormick and Chief Deputy of Corrections Mark Chamberlain, the detention center's lead administrator, had declined to disclose the transfer date ahead of Monday's pre-dawn move. McCormick said it was selected several days earlier.
"We decided to keep it as confidential as possible for security reasons," he said.
An orientation last week showed local, state and federal law enforcement agencies how to book arrestees into the jail.
The orientation was also a dry run for the county's two district judges, who conducted first appearances and arraignments in the facility's courtroom. Judges Ralph Ohm and David Switzer said they're considering holding all their criminal proceedings at the jail after the courtroom's sound system is installed next month.
John Milosovich of Voorhis Associates Inc. -- the Colorado-based firm that was paid $1.2 million to consult on the detention center's design and operational procedures -- developed the plan that guided the transfer.
More than a month of training that simulated operations inside the new facility preceded the transfer, and a contract for inmate food service had to be secured before it could accept inmates.
McCormick said contractor Trinity Services Group started preparing all inmate meals in the new facility's commercial-scale kitchen Monday, including food for inmates at the old facility and the youth detention center on Woodbine Street.
The new detention center has a 346-inmate capacity that can be expanded to 482 with the hiring of additional staff. The kitchen, laundry and other support services are sized for 800 inmates. The old jail housed about 200 inmates but was built for fewer than 90.
Monday's initiation of the inmate transfer was almost two years after the initial July 31, 2013, completion date targeted by Nabholz Construction Corp. Inc. The Conway-based firm paid $1.66 million to manage the $42 million project's approximately 30 contractors. The certificate of occupancy for the facility was issued in early May.
Nabholz said adverse weather and changes in the project's scope, which was expanded to include the $1.5 million courtroom, caused the completion date to be revised eight times.
Early versions of the construction schedule presumed that the security electronics package could be installed, integrated and tested while other contractors were on site.
"On most projects, trades can perform in conjunction with other trades on site in order to expedite the schedule," Clay Gordon, Nabholz's chief development officer, said in January. "This is how these schedules were built.
"However, this has turned out not to be the case with the majority of the security and electronics system work on this project due to various factors."
Accurate Controls Inc., the Wisconsin company awarded the $1.6 million contract, said last year that the sensitivity of security electronic components to airborne particles common to a construction site didn't allow them to be installed until other contractors were off site. A 60-day testing period followed the installation.
The detention center's approximately 600 secure doors and 300 security cameras can be operated remotely from a central control room or deputy work station inside the housing units. The capability allows one housing deputy to supervise up to 64 inmates.
The work station's touch screen puts control of doors to the unit's cells and bathrooms, televisions and other features at the deputy's fingertips. Commands can be overridden from the central control room, which assumes control when housing deputies leave their work stations for walk-throughs in the disciplinary confinement units' sub-day rooms.
A touch-bar sensor alerts the control room that deputies are inside the segregated areas, and logs the length and frequency of their rounds. In addition to protecting the deputies, the feature can be used to determine if the security checks are being done at regular intervals.
State Desk on 06/21/2015