Raising the ‘bars’

After over 13 years of research studies, planning and construction, the new Cheshire County House of Corrections is slated to open next month, providing some relief and a host of new amenities for over 100 inmates and a number of employees.

According to Richard Van Wickler, the superintendent of the Cheshire County House of Corrections, the new jail will open in March. It will replace the current corrections facility in Westmoreland, N.H., which is overcrowded and faces a lack of resources.

The new jail, currently in its final weeks of construction, is located in Keene on Route 101, approximately three miles from Keene State College.

Painting, wiring and the installation of ceiling tiles are the final touches at the 257-bed facility, which takes up about 94,000 square feet.

Both spatially and technologically, the new building features many improvements.
The booking area contains six holding cells for disruptive incoming inmates as well as a lounge area for well-behaved newcomers. Separate rooms are now available for inmate interviews, the booking sergeant and jail programming.

A space was created for a full-time medical doctor and nursing staff to treat inmates. A full-time food services director was hired and culinary facilities are now housed on site.
In the past, all food preparation was done off site at Maplewood Nursing Home and sent into the jail. Laundry facilities, also originally done off site, are now centralized. Multiple areas in the facility are outfitted with video visitation capabilities where inmates can conduct visits through a video feed as opposed to contact visitations or phone visitations through glass windows. One area in particular is specially designed for video arraignments so inmates can be remotely present for court proceedings.

In the current facility, the library and programming rooms are combined.
However, the new facility is outfitted with ample space for both, including one room that can seat up to 60 for larger programs. It is also in the works to install a computer lab for computer application training. Corrections administration received their own separate offices as well as an officer training room outside of the security area.

In addition, the new jail is run by geothermal heat. A series of wells, 500 feet below the facility, use a water circulation system to regulate temperature in the building.
The building is structured around a 490 ft. main corridor, connecting all areas of the jail.
One end of the corridor is home to the women’s housing pod, while the opposite end contains multiple men’s housing pods. In the middle is a central control station for jail personnel.

According to Captain Hank Colby, who manages all inmate programs, the housing pods were designed around the concept of decentralization, therefore, keeping inmates separately contained in one area throughout their incarceration.

Colby said containment is a problem at the Westmoreland facility because inmates must be moved constantly throughout the day for meals, recreation, etc.
At the new facility, inmates will live, eat, recreate and do many of their programs within their housing pods.

“Inmates will move very seldom,” Colby said.
Another new concept for the facility will be direct supervision. Within each housing pod is an officer’s station where personnel will be on guard 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is stepped up from the current facility, which operates on limited supervision through video surveillance.

The need for a new corrections facility was evident years before it became a reality.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Institute of Corrections report on the Westmoreland facility in 2001, the jail was not up to par.

“Cheshire County officials have determined that the current jail facility, the Cheshire County House of Correction, is inadequate. It is often crowded. It will not be able to accommodate the increase in inmate populations expected in the future. The physical design of the facility is awkward and outdated, which makes it a challenge to operate. The facility is cramped. It lacks adequate space for inmate programs and non-housing area infrastructure,” the document stated.

Colby said the population in the Westmoreland jail hovers between 100-125 inmates. It was originally built in the 1970s with an add-on in the 1980s. Still, it was only built for around 50 inmates, leaving it way over capacity and subject to double bunking.
Van Wickler said the facility was leaking, at times had no heat and people had to use milk crates when regular seating was unavailable.

In 2002, a master plan introduced by Liebert & Associates criminal justice consulting firm called for a 150-bed facility with possible expansion to 257 beds.
It was determined to construct the expanded version of the jail, with the capability for even more expansion.

“This jail could be added onto at the end of the quarter,” Colby said.
Van Wickler is also in the process of negotiating to facilitate federal inmates at the jail, which cost a total of $38 million to fully construct.

The Macmillin Company and various local resources completed the construction of the new jail. According to Van Wickler, the glass in the facility belongs to Cheshire Glass of Keene, carpeting was done by Prevost Flooring in Marlborough, the excavation was done by a Winchester company and Cushing & Sons of Keene installed the geothermal heating.

Van Wickler said he is very pleased with the facility, which will operate under the collective effort of 70 employees.

“I want a place where employees want to be and inmates don’t want to be,” Van Wickler said. “I can’t imagine it’s going to take long before you want to go.”

Corey Smith can be contacted at csmith@keeneequinox.com.