By Liz Zemba
Tribune-Review
GREENSBURG, Pa. -- The Fayette County Prison Board this morning voted to recommend to commissioners that a new jail be built on a site near the fairgrounds in Dunbar Township, at an estimated cost of $27 million to $32 million.
The board voted 4-1, with Commissioner Angela Zimmerlink dissenting, to forward the recommendation to the board of commissioners following the release of a prison-needs assessment and feasibility study.
The study found that construction of a new lockup is the least expensive option to resolve overcrowding at the existing jail, according to Tom Crabtree, president of Crabtree, Rohrbaugh and Associates Architects of Mechanicsburg. Crabtree and Sleighter Engineering of Uniontown produced the study.
Crabtree said the annual operating cost to build a new jail with 406 beds is projected to be $8.4 million. That cost is less than the $11.3 million annual cost to renovate the existing jail without adding any beds or the $10.5 million cost to add on to the existing jail to bring its capacity to 406 beds, he said.
The annual operating costs are based on an average daily population of 406 inmates.
Over a 30-year financing period, Crabtree said that by building a new jail, the county would save $85 million.
The 77-acre site in Dunbar is owned by the county and sits behind the fairgrounds.
A final decision on whether to build a new prison rests with the county commissioners.