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The New Hamblen County Justice Center is slated to be complete in May 2024 based on current updates.

BurWill Construction Project Manager Tony Pettit came before the commission to present an update on construction.

“Updates are getting easier because now you can actually see what’s going on with the project as you drive by,” he said. “The guys are working 6 days a week as weather permits.”

“The project is currently scheduled to be complete by May 2024,” he said. “The contract status as the end of April’s billing cycle has the project being billed at 46.32% or $43,141,464 completed and stored to date.”

“Your stored materials currently are at $10,902.00 which is 11.7% of the project. The project is at a total of 34% done so they are moving right along.”

Pettit explained what is currently being worked on at the project site.

“Currently we are erecting steel, placing the elevated concrete slabs, setting steel cells,” he said. “Below the building they are inserting plumbing and electrical systems and as they come up they’re doing some fire proofing. Masonry has also started and is being installed in the lower levels.”

A new jail was long overdue, as the county faces the issue of overcrowding in the current building.

The existing jail was built in the late 70s and had 168 beds for men and less than 10 for women. Today the jail population consists of 450 inmates and 250 beds.

A feasibility study done by Moseley Architects in 2017 stated that by 2035 the jail needed to have 635 beds.

The total cost of the project for bricks and mortar, design, property purchasing and testing is at $104 million.

The new justice center will include 621 beds, two court rooms, a clerk’s office and a community service area.

The justice center will have a three floor tower where the inmates will be housed. The building attached to the front of the tower will house the two court rooms, and the circuit court clerk office.

In the tower, each housing floor will have 196 beds, a triage room, and its own recreational yard that will be operated electronically.

Unlike the current jail, law enforcement will have the ability to classify inmates based on crimes to eliminate inmate violence.

There will be a basement under the housing tower that will have intake, holding, the kitchen, laundry, medical and storage. There will also be a 30 bed work release area for inmates who qualify for the work release program.

There will be an elevator attached to the tower that will lead inmates down to the basement and then they will get on another elevator that will lead to a holding area that is placed in between the two court rooms.