Work on the 140,000-square-foot expansion of the Ocean County Jail in Toms River continues to move forward on schedule, according to county officials.
“The project continues to move along smoothly,” said Ocean County Freeholder John P. Kelly, who serves as director of law and public safety. “We expect that it will be completed on time by the end of 2010.”
Since July, work on the project has advanced steadily and in recent weeks the erection of 839 precast panels has been completed.
In 2008, the county awarded a contract to New Enterprise Stone and Lime Company of Pennsylvania in the amount of $15,150,000, for the housing units that were delivered. A total of 182 new inmate cells are now in place.
Now that the precast panels are in place the next phase of the work includes the installation of the mechanical systems, electrical work, plumbing work, duct work, installation of piping. Once that is complete, the ceilings will be installed and the finishing touches will be added to the project.
A change order in the amount of $322,387 is expected to be approved by the freeholders for upcoming work. The money will be paid out of the $2 million contingency in the project’s budget and will cover the costs of additional energy efficiency items, enhanced security upgrades and improved long-term maintenance items, according to the press release.
“We continue to be within our budget for this project,” Kelly said. “It is not unusual for a project of this size to undergo some changes during the actual construction.”
Kelly noted that as the construction work continues it has not caused any disruptions in the work that goes on in the Justice Complex, which also houses courtrooms, the Ocean County Sheriff’s Department and other offices.
“The construction of the jail expansion is relatively self-contained,” Kelly said.
Work on the addition to the Ocean County Jail on Hooper Avenue, Toms River, got under way in late 2008. The current jail is on the fourth and fifth floors of the Justice Complex.
The contractor doing the jail expansion is Patock Construction, Tinton Falls, at a cost of $36,690,000.
The county is adding space for an additional 400 beds, which would increase the jail capacity to 680 beds.
The proposed expansion includes the construction of new space at the rear of the Justice Complex and a two-story addition on the south side of the existing building. It includes a new medical unit, intake and release area, records room and video visiting area for the public. All inmate areas will remain within a maximum-security perimeter.
According to a needs assessment completed in 2005, since 1985 when the Board of Freeholders opened the jail atop the Ocean County Justice Complex, the county’s population has increased by almost 200,000 people. Since that time period, new mandatory sentencing laws have gone into effect resulting in longer jail terms; municipalities have employed more police officers resulting in an increase in patrols and arrests.
The combination of increasing admissions at the Ocean County Jail and increased average length of stay has created a higher average daily population at the jail, according to the study done by Carter Goble Associates. The current average population at the facility routinely exceeds more than 500 inmates while the jail was built to hold 280 inmates.