The Prince William Board of County Supervisors was expected to approve funding for a nearly $70 million jail expansion and $10 million renovation at Tuesday’s regular meeting.
The county, which shares ownership of the jail with Manassas and Manassas Park, will pay $48 million for its portion of the two-year project.
“Prince William County has seen a fairly large increase in the jail population due to a number of factors, including the area’s growing population, as well as the imposition of mandatory sentencing,” said Board Chairman Sean Connaughton. “We are having more people stay longer in the jail, and that has caused some fairly serious population concerns.”
The jail, which consists of three buildings beside the county courthouse in Manassas, was built to hold 175 daily inmates and to commit and release about 600 prisoners a month, said Col. Charles Land, superintendent of jails.
The facility has since expanded to hold 740 inmates and the booking and release of 2,400 inmates monthly, he said.
“The count this morning was 704 [inmates],” Land said in an interview Tuesday.
There are currently 77 prisoners “farmed out” to other jails in neighboring counties, 80 in a Caroline County jail partially owned by Prince William, and several more in work release and electronic monitoring programs, Land said.
“As the population increases, you get more people that get arrested. Once they get sentenced, they’ve got to go someplace,” he said.
“We had literally no choice but to do this. Our jail is full,” said County Executive Craig Gerhart, who said the county recently added money to incarceration alternatives, such as drug rehabilitation and prevention programs, to help manage the prisoner population.
The expansion would include some maximum-security cells and less-secure cells where an officer would be in direct contact with the inmates, Landsaid.
The renovation of the first floor of the old jail will upgrade the booking area, kitchen, laundry and other support facilities, he said.
New jail construction
» New expansion costs a total of $70 million
» Renovation costs $10 million
» 200 new beds
» 120,000 square feet of new construction
» 23,000 square feet of renovation
