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Pinellas sheriff gets wish to turn bus depot into jail

Commissioners agree to spend $3.4-million to add beds, showers and toilets to ease overcrowding at the nearby county jail.

By WILL VAN SANT
Published September 20, 2006

CLEARWATER - Hundreds of Pinellas County Jail inmates could be moving out of crowded cells by early next year and doing time in what was once a bus garage.

In a move sought by Sheriff Jim Coats, the County Commission on Tuesday voted to spend $3.4-million to outfit an abandoned Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority maintenance building with beds, showers and toilets.

The county bought the building last year for slightly more than $4-million.

The structure, just north of the jail on 49th Street in Clearwater, is slated to house as many as 288 inmates once the upgrades are completed. The work is expected to take six months.

"It's going to seem like forever to me," Coats said in an interview shortly before the vote. "I'm just worried about this overcrowding. I'm just afraid that something bad is going to happen."

Built for 2,354 inmates, the jail complex has been modified to accommodate 3,119. On Tuesday, there were slightly fewer than 3,800 inmates, Coats said, and the figure has been as high as 3,900 in recent weeks.

"It's pretty close quarters," the sheriff said. "And we have had an increase in disputes."

Those housed in the former PSTA building will be the "minimum-risk type folks," who work as day laborers outside of the jail, Coats said.

The commission's unanimous decision to commit millions of dollars to refurbish the garage came on a day when the board was also looking to trim spending to support a cut to next year's property tax rate.

The board has little choice, said County Administrator Steve Spratt.

"You don't have any discretion but to deal with jail overcrowding," he said. "You have officer safety issues, and you have human rights issues for the inmates."

Money for the work will come from the sale of county property and from the county's reserve fund.

While providing some immediate relief, the bus garage is not a permanent solution.

An updated jail master plan calls for a 2,500-bed facility to be built within a decade. The project is estimated to cost $225-million.

A version of this story appears in some regional editions of the Times. Will Van Sant can be reached at vansant@sptimes.com or 727 445-4166.

[Last modified September 20, 2006, 01:09:43]