$1.2
million revamp unfinished
“Smoke
good, fire bad...” - Frankenstein
Waco
– Frankenstein was wrong. Fire still bad - smoke even worse...
It's
not fire that kills; it's the smoke. Inmates who riot routinely set
fire to smoldering items such as bedding and paper, plastic and
styrofoam - items that generate very toxic fumes when they burn.
They
want out, and they often are willing to risk their own lives and the
lives of their fellow inmates to risk the chance. What a way to go.
After
nearly three years of vacancy, the 300-plus capacity old Courthouse
Annex Jail is still on hold, even though the roof does not leak and
all systems are go.
The
burning question is this. Does the smoke evacuation system come up to
the standards of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards?
To
find out, the Court learned from Building Supervisor Sammy Sykora,
they will have to hire a test and evaluation firm, a system engineer,
and an alarm engineer in order to study the problem and certify the
results.
Mr.
Sykora told the Court that it's unclear if the smoke alarm and
evacuation system has ever been tested since its installation by HVAC
contractor Lochridge-Priest, way back in the now-murky days of
yesteryear of 1978.
“They
never test them with the inmates in there,” he explained. “With
the jail being empty...”
It
could be a risky gamble to just haul off and call the inspector.
The
test is straightforward enough. You release a series of smoke bombs
into the indoor areas of the jail. If the automatic evacuation system
kicks on, the fans blow and the louvers open up within a certain
amount of time, the next phase of the test is even more crucial.
Once
the all-clear comes, and it's time to put the inmates back in the
lockup, will the smoke detectors cause the system to re-start
automatically within the next 15 minutes? If it does, like the
ricochet biscuit that doesn't bounce back and hit you in the mouth –
you go hungry!
Time
is of the essence, since it only takes a few seconds to die of carbon
monoxide poisoning, a deadly gas that is colorless, odorless, and
tasteless, but kills very quickly.
Arson
is a murderous practice, on either side of the bars.
Mr.
Sykora and a commission inspector recently performed an informal test
using smoke bombs that showed the detectors and automatic fans and
louvers still work correctly, but the system itself is made up of
fans and other components they don't even make any more.
“You
can't even get parts for it,” he said of a return air fan that
“balances” the intake and exhaust system designed to make a
complete turnover in the indoor atmosphere within a specified period
of time.
Who
knows if they used the amount of smoke that is a standard of the
commission's real testing? If anyone knows, it's not Sammy Sykora, he
assured the Court.
The
economic conundrum facing the Court is simple enough.
The
jail is still operable under a permit that was voluntarily suspended
when the County government made a decision to upgrade a leaky roof
and other components of the building.
If
the smoke evacuation system fails the test, taxpayers would be stuck
with the bill to replace it, anyway.
“We
need to find out the cost,” said Interim County Judge Scott Felton,
a retired banker with experience in true cost accounting.
Following
Mr. Sykora's presentation, County Auditor Stan Chambers demonstrated
by the numbers that it costs about the same amount to house prisoners
in the Highway 6 County Jail as it does to pay CEC, Inc., to house
them in the for-profit Jack Harwell Detention Center.
Factoring
in transport and health care, the fixed costs of housing overflow
inmates at the corporate jail are only slightly lower than than the
variable costs of housing them at the county's lockup. Judge Felton
pointed out that contractually, the County is obligated to send
overflow prisoners to the Jack Harwell Detention Center, which was
built with funds raised from a revenue bond issue backed by the full
faith and credit of McLennan County - without voter approval.
The
variable involved in operation of the County Jail is the rate of
inflation experienced on any given day, according to Mr. Chambers.
One
may click here for an edited audio report of the Court's discussion
of the smoke detector system by clicking here.
It's
an item that has presented a recurring budgetary headache to the
McLennan County budget. The matter of housing overflow prisoners,
particularly on weekends when judges have sentenced offenders to do
their time on minor offenses, has driven the cost over budget by as
much as 300 percent for the item.
The
Courthouse Annex Jail was contracted to CEC to operate as a lockup
for federal prisoners, but the corporation vacated the contract in
favor of housing overflow prisoners at the Jack Harwell Detention
Center in exchange for paying a monthly fee to not use the downtown
annex jail.
It
prompted a serious debate at budget planning time when after two
weeks of negotiations, the Court had only come up with spending
increases and no budget cuts.
Freshman
Precinct 4 Commissioner Ben Perry stimulated some debate when he
showed the Court a way to avoid a tax increase and still cut spending
while saving popular programs former County Judge Jim Lewis had
suggested fall under the axe.
One
may read a previous report on Commissioner Perry's proposal and hear
an audio presentation by clicking here.
Thanks for the sharing great information.
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