Fayette County Prison annex to begin accepting inmates
The 80-bed annex to the Fayette County Prison will begin accepting inmates today. County Commission Chairman Vincent A. Vicites could not say exactly how many Fayette County inmates were being housed in the prisons of neighboring counties, but he said most would be brought back by next week.
That will forgo a bill that has averaged almost $40,000 a month to house Fayette County’s overflow elsewhere.
“Every day this is costing the county money in jail cell rental, and I wanted to put an end to this as quickly as possible,” said Vicites.
The annex, meant to house minimum-security inmates, is opening after several delays in the projected date. Depending on the source, the prison is anywhere from 41/2 months to six weeks behind schedule in its opening.
Although the delay forced the county to incur extra expense in prisoner housing, Vicites said that a state prison inspector recently said the annex is one of the finest he’s ever seen, in terms of construction.
The annex will house only county inmates, said Vicites; however, even with all of the county’s prisoners returned, there will be extra cells now.
And Vicites said that the county hopes to benefit from Act 71 of 1990, a state program that allotted $200 million to help finance prisons across the state.
Vicites said the county could be eligible for a 16 percent reimbursement of the nearly $1 million spent on the annex.
“We probably will get close to $100,000,” Vicites said.
No matter the true construction cost, Vicites said the annex will ultimately save the county money. He estimated that the annex would pay for itself in three to four years, since inmates won’t be sent elsewhere for housing.
The annex, said Vicites, will employ nine new full-time guards and one full-time counselor.
“We created 10 decent-wage jobs, and we stopped the funding strain of sending (prisoners) to other counties. I feel good about that,” he said.
“I’m just glad it’s ready. I just want to move forward to the next problem to solve in the county.”