Raising the Bars: New County Safety Center Bristles With Technology
One of the jail cells in the new county detention center.
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The land where the biggest new county building is rising was all sand and scrub — a huge vacant lot in the middle of Carthage — the first time Rich Smith saw the place.
He had come down from Pennsylvania to help a new owner of Little River get zoning in place. He kept finding reasons to stay — work, love, fun.
And while other jobs would eventually lead him around the country, he knew he wanted to come back here, eventually beating 35 other applicants to become Moore County’s director of property management.
“I was working on the road at that time for almost a year, building stores, like a working foreman,” he said. “I was miserable — being away for three or four weeks at a time and home for two days. I was in California when they told me I had the job and 24 hours to come in and do a drug test.”
Now he’s caring for every building and every vehicle Moore County owns. That’s a full-time job by itself — but his biggest job these days is supervising construction, including the new public safety center complex in Carthage. He oversees every detail, every board and every nail, of building the new facility.
Recently, Smith gave The Pilot a tour of the enormous building from one end to the other — entering through a gaping opening that will one day be a secure entrance for prisoner transport.
State-of-the-art is a term Smith uses frequently as he describes the quality of work being done. Every contract, every plan drawing, every specification is literally in Smith’s hands on a tablet computer he carries with him.
“You betcha,” Smith said. “I’ve got it organized by electrical, plumbing — each floor, each building — I worked very hard on that.”
Later, in management, that will help.
“I know where everything is,” he said. “This building houses the sheriff, narcotics, emergency services, 911 — all those people. That is all in this building. This is the actual sally port. If you are in a sheriff’s van, you come in here if you were going to be booked.”
He points to a coating that covers every beam — fireproofing in addition to a sprinkler system — as he leads on into a courtroom-to-be with mocked-up furniture.
“This is the magistrate’s courtroom,” Smith said. “There is a witness stand, there a court reporter.”
Someday even small claims court could be run from this room. It will be fully TV-equipped, so a judge could be in chambers and hold court remotely.
“A witness could be sworn in, take the stand, and a judge sitting in his office could carry on court right here.”
It is a way of handling first appearances right from the detention center. Visitation will be through video screens instead of windows; 26 video visitation stations are at one side of the main lobby.
“Now you are going out into the secure area,” Smith said, moving through a doorway opening. “This is where the public would not go. If you are going into the Sheriff’s Office, you come in that front door and an officer takes you back. Everybody that works here comes in the side door — the back entrance — using their own secure keys. The electronic security in this place is mind-boggling. This room right here is the brains of the whole place: the master control room.”
There are two other control rooms, one for the first and second floor of the jail building and another for the third and fourth floors.
“They are under this, so this overrides everything,” Smith said. “You can shut off every light, shut off a toilet, open a door. It has one button lockdown, and one button open up if you make a mistake.”
Smith points out miles of conduit work, fireproofing to meet various standards. Pausing by an opening, he points to a tiny white dot barely visible at the far side of the lot.
“That’s the satellite dish control,” he said. “That’s the master control point, the benchmark. The entire job is built off that point. Everything goes out electronically (communicating with) everybody’s GPS. If you want to shoot the elevation, the height of that wall, any part, you can.”
Every piece of earth-moving equipment is controlled from satellites. Smith’s tablet has the contour map ready at hand.
Stenciled words on every part of the structure show its expected fire resistance. Smith shows the jail section where one row of cells is mounted above a second one on each of two stories. Behind the cell rows is a long hall giving secure access to plumbing. Nobody will have to enter a cell to work on a toilet.
At each end of cell areas in twin arms of the detention section a single officer has full view through bulletproof windows. Nobody has to be inside the cell areas to supervise. Federal prisoners brought in for trial on state charges or to appear as witnesses can be held in Moore County in cells that meet federal standards — a difference of a few inches in cell width.
All these areas have seams filled with special secure material.
“You can’t have anything anywhere that somebody could actually chisel out, put a knife in, hide something,” Smith said. “There are no crevices anywhere; can’t be.”
Building completion is expected for the fall, but the first prisoners may not be inside until early next year.
Contact John Chappell at (910) 783-5841 or jfchappell@gmail.com.
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Comments
MikeNC 11 months, 1 week ago
John Chappell...The land where the biggest new county building is rising was all sand and scrub — a huge vacant lot in the middle of Carthage
And in it is built Moore County's detention center (Prison). That sure says something about where our society currently is and is headed to in the future. And I suppose a similar story is written in county after county across our great country.....Mike
MichaelFlorence 11 months, 1 week ago
The most interesting part is about the cell sizes. Cells built to Federal standards. Wonder if they are thinking of housing prisoners for other areas besides Moore County. Also interesting is the fact that everything is state of the art for this prison, but some of our schools lack even basic things. We can always find money for prisoners, but not our students. Very interesting.
teufelhunden 11 months, 1 week ago
MIkeNC/MichaelFlorence,
You both make good observations.
It is a crying shame that jail/prison is only a place for criminals to hang out until they're released again only to commit more crimes.
Our children deserve better than the common thug.
Too bad our society glorifies the thug lifestyle/mentality. Sad.
Nezumi 11 months, 1 week ago
Mike and Michael - agree with you both. I always kind of liked the tent cities (jails) in Arizona.
getreal 11 months, 1 week ago
I agree with all of you. So glad the law breakers will have a "state of the art" hotel to spend their time in. They also get great health care and 3 meals a day. Hey, is there a vacancy? I am sure the homeless would gladly give up their freedom for a nice roof over their head, free tv, libraries, gyms and free dental care. The robbers and worse will be out in no time ready to resume their chosen lifestyle of crime. We all foot the bill, thousands and thousands of tax payer's money (over $100,000.00 per year per prisoner) to take care of these losers. They have more rights than their victims. What is wrong with this picture? Maybe they should be put in not so nice facilities, they might think twice about committing more crimes when they get out.
dustyrhoades 11 months, 1 week ago
http://thepilot.com/users/photos/2012/jun/15/18482/
JD 11 months, 1 week ago
For profit prison's will be the end of us all. They get paid per head that resides in a cell, what happens if things start getting slim? Lesser crimes will have harsher penalties and we will all be subject to the prison industrial complex.
teufelhunden 11 months, 1 week ago
getreal-so well said
getreal 11 months, 1 week ago
To JD, Do you really think the parade of criminals will someday get slim??? If only that could be true! I would bet that as the economy continues to fail, there be plenty of low lives, committing crimes and waiting in line for incarceration. An unlimited supply of losers awaits!
Toda 11 months, 1 week ago
Way back when several of us were labeled "jail-mates" for opposing the spending and inflated costs when one county over (Harnett) they built more for less. Now that architectural rending in The Pilot pales in compassion to the Gold Bar Hilton.
For anyone who hasn't had that eye popping experience, it's time taxpayers to have a drive by. That monstrosity is as out of place as the WWII German Pillbox we call a courthouse. It was out of place when it was built and now we have two opposing structures that should be in Raleigh or Charlotte.
Way to Go Nick and Larry ... Laughing stock of Poorer County!
Toda 11 months, 1 week ago
"the first time Rich Smith saw the place.
He had come down from Pennsylvania to help a new owner of Little River get zoning in place. He kept finding reasons to stay — work, love, fun."
Mission accomplished!
Toda 11 months, 1 week ago
"eventually beating 35 other applicants to become Moore County’s director of property management."
Toda 11 months, 1 week ago
"“You betcha,” Smith said. “I’ve got it organized by electrical, plumbing — each floor, each building — I worked very hard on that.”
Bflat 11 months, 1 week ago
Shame on TPo3_ Caddell, Picerno and Melton._ for pushing through the federal sized JAIL in the middle of Carthage. Meanwhile the No1 school was shut down over a $500,000 budget shortfall ...and other schools have had to cut back on their budgets. Prisoners get a a brand new palace to stay in. The priorities of those 3 commissioners is all wrong. Do not forget that this building can expand to over 600 beds ! Multimillions are being spent on making prisoners comfortable.
Toda 11 months, 1 week ago
Bflat ~ thank you "jail-mate" for your unscripted observation. The "Sunshine Law" continues to get dimmer while more behind the scenes Commissioners continue business as usual. No wonder they campaigned feverishly for Senator Jerry Tillman....From the courthouse to the statehouse, they have decisions wrapped up according to Larry's Law.
Toda 11 months, 1 week ago
Just a little reality before the blog is taken down by The Pilot:
D'ya think?
After all, that's what we (the taxpayers) pay county attorneys for: to give elected officials the sound legal advice they need to keep them out of trouble. And we certainly don't elect those officials in the expectation that they will blatantly disregard that advice.
Toda 11 months, 1 week ago
"cooldaddy 3 days, 1 hour ago" => "... been hear since 1998..."
Nezumi 11 months, 1 week ago
We're way behind schedule; we were supposed to have shipped all the prisoners to Manhattan in 1997 - (Escape from New York) - sorry, couldn't resist.
Toda 11 months, 1 week ago
More funny stuff => "There are two other control rooms, one for the first and second floor of the jail building and another for the third and fourth floors."
Bflat 11 months, 1 week ago
It is not yet a done deal. The loan will have to be paid off. Now , who do you think will be providing all the software to run that place and the equipement? Who is going to be the jail adminstrator? The JAIL is 4 floors and is huge, and the 3 story public safety had to have extra large drain lines put around it. Just wait for the rainy season. Nope the JAIL is not done yet. It can expand to 600 beds. The commissioners chose to make prisoners more comfortable with the "state of the art" palace.
Toda 11 months ago
PM 15 hours, 21 minutes ago => You obviously are in a relationship with LC Esq. What does PM stand for: Puny Man?
Toda 11 months ago
"I know I don't have to read the replies but damn" => Wasn't aware that you could read...O' you can read but have a low comprehension threshold. And apparently a high school dropout statistic....
Toda 11 months ago
Hey PM cat got your tongue? Come on out of the closet and act like a man. Larry won't care that you want to discuss the topic on this blog like a man. 63 and going strong. What about you?