Construction for a new intake facility at Piedmont Regional Jail (PRJ) is underway, Interim Supervisor Jim Davis confirmed.

Offering a report during the Piedmont Regional Jail Authority meeting April 20, Davis said the footers for the jail’s new intake facility and loading area are up. A footer supports the foundation of a building.

“At least we’re coming out of the ground,” Davis said.

He also said the walls are set to be installed following the construction of the floor.

A short-term loan and a long-term loan for the one-story, 5,210-square-foot intake facility were voted for approval by the members of the authority during its November 2017 meeting.

“The original jail was built in 1988,” Davis said in an interview April 24. “It was supposed to hold 103 inmates, and we have 600, almost 700.” He said as of 6 a.m. April 24, the number of inmates at the jail was 662, a combination of local and federal inmates, Davis said.

He said the new intake facility will have 12 single cells and an area where inmates will be checked for medical or drug/alcohol-related conditions.

He said the cost of the new intake facility is approximately $4 million.

“We can have them screened … and have them showered properly and take them back into the housing unit,” Davis said.

“It will be much faster and we will meet all of the qualifications,” Davis said about the intake process.

Davis said the other side of the new building will be a dropping off-site for tractor-trailers bringing food or other items. He said the building will be split down the middle for tractor-trailers to enter one side, and police cars to enter the other side.

“Of course it will all be fenced in, (with) the cameras and everything else,” Davis said.

Moseley Architecture is the engineering firm for the intake center and Jamerson-Lewis Construction is the general contractor.

“Hopefully we’ll be finished around January of (20)19,” Davis said about the completion of the intake facility.

Davis said the existing intake facility within the jail has four cells.

Davis said that with the new intake facility, the old intake facility will only be used for releases, which he said could eliminate potential confusion from the old set up.

“There’s a very high possibility, when you start mixing people coming in and going out at the same time, somebody could get mixed up, and we could let the wrong person out,” Davis said. “With this we hope that will never happen, because they are coming out of different doors, really.”

He said the qualifications the jail needs to meet came from a settlement agreement with the Department of Justice five years ago. He said following the jail complying with the 59 qualifications, it will be out of the settlement agreement in October.