Published: November 04, 2009 09:57 pm         

Construction project to fix design flaw that allowed Vigo County inmates to visit other cells

TERRE HAUTE — A security-improving project in the Vigo County Security Center is solving a design flaw that had allowed some jail inmates to crawl through the ceiling to visit other cells.

Eight pods in the 7-year-old addition to the original jail are getting sturdier ceiling panels to prevent excursions by inmates. And best of all, according to county officials, the updates are costing the county zero dollars.

A negotiated settlement with the original architect is covering the $500,000 cost of the project, Sheriff Jon Marvel said.

“The ceiling system in those cells was inadequate,” Marvel said during a recent tour of the facility. “That’s obvious due to problems we have had.”

He explained that inmates in a top bunk could kick upward against the perforated metal ceiling panels, bending them and stripping out screws that held the ceiling system together. Once a panel could be lifted far enough, a person could slip through the gap and roam around in the crawl space above the cells.

The same type of ceiling was installed at a jail in Lake County, Marvel said, and that ceiling system also failed.

The repair work is now being handled by Hannig Construction, and oversight of the project, which includes fixing other security and structural needs in the jail, comes from Creative Corrections out of Beaumont, Texas.

Consultant David Rardin has years of experience working in the federal prison system, and has been analyzing the county jail facility and security system. In recent months, the jail also has been plagued by a recurring mold problem.

“We’re fortunate to have him here,” Marvel said of Rardin. “He’s giving an honest answer to what’s needed.”

Marvel said the jail’s overcrowded status has made working around the construction project a bit challenging at times. While a pod is being renovated, all inmates there are moved into another cell block so that some cells and common areas hold more inmates than intended by design.

The overcrowding issue also has been a challenge. The inmate cap was set at 268 by an agreement with the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, which sued in 2000 because of jail conditions. Marvel said the original jail design called for an upward expansion of the facility. But cost-cutting early in the project reduced the size of the building’s support pillars, so any future expansion must go outward. That is, if the county is financially able to support a jail expansion, which it currently isn’t. For now, the sheriff said he is glad current security issues are being addressed.

“The folks who are in here need to be in here,” he said of the majority of inmates awaiting court dates.

Marvel said he expects the ceiling work to be completed by the first of December, which is ahead of schedule.

Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254.