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The Falkenburg Road Jail is undergoing a massive expansion that will more than triple the population by 2013.
By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 28, 2003
The community's newest exclusive development sports an airy floor plan, skylights and basketball courts.
Of course, the residents endure steel deadbolt locks on the doors, razor-wire fences and brick walls surrounding the ball courts.
Not just anyone can live here.
The address: 520 N Falkenburg Road.
The name: The county jail.
In May, the Falkenburg Road Jail will open a new unit, adding 512 beds to replace temporary trailers currently housing inmates. In the next year, an additional 512 beds -- and inmates -- will be added to the current jail population of 1,294. It's the start of a massive expansion plan that will more than triple the Falkenburg jail population by 2013.
"It's dictated by growth and need," said Hillsborough sheriff's Major Robert Lucas, in charge of the day-to-day operations of the jail. "We're not going to build just for the sake of building."
Top brass at the sheriff's office have been re-evaluating the needs of the county's three jails for years. Changes have become more necessary in recent months, especially since the overall jail population topped 4,000 on March 14.
There are several problems within the county's jail system, said Col. David Parrish:
The Morgan Street Jail in downtown Tampa is an old-style lockup, with long hallways and barred cells. Those kinds of jails are more labor intensive, as opposed to modern jails, such as Falkenburg, where one detention deputy oversees a dormitory of 72 inmates.
-- At 40 years old, Morgan Street has structural problems, including plumbing issues and an air conditioner in need of repairs. It will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix those problems, Parrish said.
-- The Orient Road Jail is overcrowded. About 1,000 inmates sleep on blue stackable cots that resemble canoes.
-- Because of overcrowding, the Sheriff's Office -- keeper of jails -- has nearly blown its overtime budget. Deputies must supervise the growing population. Parrish said the sheriff's budget allotted $1.7-million for overtime for the whole year; if the trend continues, then the jail will spend twice that.
Parrish has a plan to alleviate the problems by June.
It all hinges on closing the Morgan Street Jail.
Last week, he asked the county's Public Safety Committee to approve a proposal to close the Morgan Street Jail for good. Morgan Street inmates -- mostly federal prisoners awaiting hearings -- would move to Orient Road. Several hundred county inmates at Orient Road would then be transferred to Falkenburg, and fill the newly created beds.
The committee approved the plan, and Parrish and Sheriff Cal Henderson will make their case to the County Commission later this spring.
"We need to do it as quickly as we can," Parrish said.
The Falkenburg Road Jail sits on 128 acres, more than enough to handle the county's growing crime needs.
Built in 1998, sheriff's authorities say it is on the cutting edge of jail design.
It uses "direct supervision," as opposed to cellblocks. One deputy oversees up to 72 inmates in a so-called "pod." The pods -- a half dozen of which are under construction now for future use -- are giant, open dormitories painted in shades of grey.
Inmates have a bunk and a small cubby under the bed to call their own.
Each pod has a group shower, a small laundry room and medical examination room. Inmates can watch one of two televisions mounted high on two posts.
And each pod attaches to a small, brick wall-lined courtyard, where inmates play basketball or soak up the sun.
The supervising deputy sits in the middle of the room, behind a large desk. That deputy can see nearly every nook of the room. If problems arise, the deputy can lock down his pod without affecting the rest of the jail.
The concept of direct supervision is based on the idea that the majority of inmates will behave. Those that don't, said Col. Parrish, are placed in a time-out room in the pod, much like kindergarteners.
"We have devoted 10 percent of the system to handle problem people," said Parrish, who added that people in the "time-out room," are locked down for 22 hours a day.
When the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office first began the direct supervision concept, jailers around the country scoffed at Parrish as he tried to explain.
"You're not putting real inmates in a dorm?" Parrish recalled some saying.
He has proved the critics wrong. The Sheriff's Office has had few problems in the pod, and officials can't remember when someone escaped from the Falkenburg Road Jail.
"But it's real easy to manage," he said. "We'll put a first degree murderer in that kind of housing."
-- Tamara Lush covers law enforcement in Hillsborough County. She can be reached at (813) 226-3373 or at lush@sptimes.com.