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The new female minimum security block that can house 20 inmates.
WAPAKONETA - Auglaize County Sheriff Mike Vorhees and his jail staff are about to unveil a substantial jail renovation that expanded its capacity and improved its capabilities.
The nearly $6.4 million project, originally billed at $4.5 million, added around 29 beds to the facility: one female minimum security block that can house 20 people, five female medical/mental health cells, and four male medical/mental health cells.
"Our biggest thing we did was we had one existing female block with 11 beds and that was a problem," Vorhees said. "We can't house violent and nonviolent offenders in the same blocks. Having only one female cell area really caused issues. So that was our first priority that we looked at."
Initially, he said, there was a bigger addition planned that ended up being too expensive.
"We were going to build a whole new wing on the outside and then come (inside), and that just wasn't going to work," Vorhees said. "We decided this is what we're going do: we renovated existing space that we already had. We added one female unit as a minimum security (block). And then we added a five-bed medical/mental health area for females and a four-bed male medical and mental health area."
One of the five female medical/mental health cells added to the county jail.
The medical/mental health areas are for a variety of situations, jail captain Denise Barlage said.
"They can be in there for a medical issue and it could be (drug) withdrawal. They could be in there because they have mental health issues also," she said. "If they're going through withdrawal, we try to keep them either in a medical area or the holding area so staff can keep a closer eye on them because withdrawals can get pretty severe at times. With mental health, we have the ability, if they're in a mental health area, that we can keep them out and try and acclimate them to the environment a little bit better rather than putting them in a cell and closing the door."
The medical/mental health area includes ADA-compliant cells and, if needed, beds low to the ground in case of a medical emergency, like a seizure, she added.
Some of the jail cells are also ADA-compliant with space for inmates' wheelchairs.
Once the county jail receives permission for occupancy from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections, the facility will house a maximum of 101 people, up from 72 before the renovation, Vorhees said.
Additional renovations to the jail included new video visitation booths, a back-up air conditioning unit, a fresh paint job, new epoxy flooring, metal fencing on the second floor of the female block, a new software system and an update to the jail intercom system.
Another helpful, high-tech update was the implementation of surveillance cameras on cell doors, similar to Ring doorbell cameras, that activate with the touch of a button.
The recreation area of the jail was also renovated and changed from a fenced-in outdoor space to a fully indoor gym.
The county was awarded a $2.035 million grant for the project in 2023 through the Ohio Jail Safety and Security Program in April 2023, county administrator Erica Preston said.
Multiple emergency exits lead to this fenced in outdoor area at the back of the jail in case of an evacuation.
Auglaize County's facility was one of 11 jails that together were awarded $50 million through the state program.
The rest of the project was paid for with a combination of county development and county permanent improvement funds, Preston previously said.
"We didn't have to go back to the voters for this," Vorhees said. "We were able to pay with the grant money and money that (the commissioners) already had."
The sheriff's office moved into the jail at 1051 Dearbaugh Ave. in 1998. This is its first major renovation, which Vorhees said is on time.
"The commissioners hired a company to come in and do a study, and when they sat down and talked to us, they said your average (lifespan) for a jail is 25 years," he said. "Now, in that 25 years, you may see some sprucing up, some fixing some day-to-day things that need redone. But they said for a major renovation, you're always looking at about every 20 to 25 years."
The jail operated as usual during the renovation, Vorhees said.
"It was not easy, but our employees and our command staff navigated it very well," he added. "It was hard, especially at certain times. There were times in the middle of the winter it got kind of cold back there because we had holes in the side (of the facility). And with that, the security had to be really heightened. There were times that we had to have deputies with cruisers out back just for precautions and things like that. So we had some extra security at times. There were also times we had extra staff, just to make sure things went smoothly."
The final touches of the renovation are ongoing. There will be a ribbon-cutting to officially open the jail on June 5.
