MARQUETTE – Changes to the health and safety improvement project at the Marquette County Jail and the Mangum Farm Detention Center include an increased number of door replacements, the addition of night lighting in cells and reduced roof work.

“What’s happened when we started looking at these and getting some of these updated costs … we had to make some decisions and prioritize some of those projects,” Marquette County Administrator Scott Erbisch said.

He said the county has received approval from state officials to move forward with improvements to Mangum Farms, which is leased to the county under five-year agreements, last approved in 2014.

“Assuming bids are in line with estimates, it is hoped to have the detention center construction started in late July,” Erbisch said.

The county is anticipating bids on some of the project items by Friday.

The Marquette County Board in March approved Gundlach Champion as design-build contractor for the $1.6 million project, which originally included upgrades to the fire alarm system in the jail and the courthouse annex building, replacing the jail’s boiler and emergency power generator, installing new jail doors with hinges on the outside of cells, replacing roofs at both facilities and a bathroom expansion at the detention center.

The project scope now includes improvements to only the jail’s fire alarm system, chemical treatment and maintenance work on the jail’s existing boiler and expanding the number of door replacements.

“At this point, we’ve also removed the roof replacement for the jail area,” Erbisch said. “We’ve also identified some other areas with bars that we think should be removed and replaced with perforated steel and (high-strength plastic) to improve safety of the inmates and still allow visibility of the jail staff as they’re doing their checks.”

Night lighting in the cells and additional cameras will also be installed, while replacement of the jail’s

emergency power generator and switch gear, as well as the detention center bathroom expansion, are still part of the project.

Erbisch said female inmates are currently only able to be lodged at the main jail and the bathroom expansion would allow for minimum security female inmates to be housed at the detention center, so the intent is to finish those improvements first.

“Once we get that work done we’ll be able to start shifting some of the inmates from the main facility to the detention center to free up space as they start working on the jail doors and enhancements within the main facility,” he said.

Some of the improvements will help the county fit the criteria for the Prison Rape Elimination Act, which was established in 2003 to combat sexual assault in confinement, Erbisch said.

“We’ve actually been told that because we receive some of these federal inmates that we should be complying with that, so we’re moving toward that,” Erbisch said.

Ryan Jarvi can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 242. His email address is rjarvi@miningjournal.net.