By Michael Davidson
Daily Camera
BROOMFIELD — Unless you’re in the back of a police car, the Broomfield County jail is hard to find.
Located on the edge of town south of Colo. 128, it sits on a tree-lined parkway, just past an office park and a nice apartment complex. The booking room could be confused for an ER waiting room or the main office of a high school.
Then a thick, heavy metal door slams shut, and suddenly it is clear -- you can’t leave unless they let you.
The combination of technology, innovative design and new thinking on how to treat inmates makes the facility a model other communities use when they build new jails.
“They’ve been using the Broomfield Detention Center since 2002 as a model,” Police Chief Tom Deland said.
Elected officials and law enforcement officers from outside Colorado are frequent visitors. Many come to the jail as part of their training with the National Institute of Corrections, a branch of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons.
“It’s a very nice, well-designed facility. They did a really good planning process,” said Fran Zandi, an official with the institute.
The jail’s reliance on technology lets the department use about half the staff old
Copyright 2009 Daily Camera and Boulder Publishing, LLC