Modular jail cells back in spotlight

CROWLEY - They declared them surplus and tried to sell them — twice — but there were no takers.
Then they talked about having them demolished and hauled off.
Now, members of the Acadia Parish Police Jury will consider authorizing a “full financial analysis” to determine whether to go ahead with the demolition or refurbish and use the modular buildings at the Acadia Parish Detention Center.
George Glaubrecht of the Lafayette-based engineering firm of Domingue and Szabo and Associates, told members of the jury’s Building and Grounds Committee Tuesday night that the condition of the buildings has deteriorated greatly since he last inspected them in the spring of 2013.
“We visited there in mid-August and, of course, it was raining — both outside and inside the buildings,” Glaubrecht said. “The corrosion is worse, there’s scaling on the floors, water in the light fixtures and water pooling in some areas.”
Glaubrecht estimated that the cost of refurbishing the buildings had increased from “about $270,000” in 2013 to “about $380,000” now, adding that, should the jury decide to move forward with repairing and bringing the buildings “to code,” he feared “some bad discoveries” once the work gets underway.
“If you want to make a long-term commitment to continue using (modular buildings), I think you should consider getting rid of these and get new ones,” he said.
He estimated that the cost of replacing the buildings — including demolition of the existing units, construction and engineering — at $1.5 million.
“Isn’t $380,000 better than $1.5 million?” asked Juror Dale Trahan, not a member of the Building and Grounds Committee.
“Not if you want something that’s going to last 20 years,” Glaubrecht replied, estimating a five- or six-year life expectancy for the refurbished units.
“And the cost estimate for repairs is based just on what we can see,” he added. “I can’t guarantee anything.”
But Juror A.J. “Jay” Credeur, also not a member of the Building and Grounds Committee, pointed out that the parish currently is spending “$150,000 a year” to house prisoners out of parish.
“In 10 years, that’s $1.5 million,” he said.
To which Glaubrecht reiterated that, in his opinion, the refurbished units would last only five or six years.
Finally, David Savoy, a member of the committee, moved that a recommendation be forwarded to the full jury to authorize a financial analysis of the situation.
“Let’s see what we have, what’s going on with the prisoners, and get a cost comparison of fixing what we have or buying new,” he said.
Fellow committee members Alton “Al” Stevenson and Robert Guidry agreed.
The police jury will meet to consider this and other business at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8, in the meeting room on the third floor of the parish courthouse.
Purchased in 2001 at a cost of nearly $720,000, the buildings were intended to be used as a temporary fix for overcrowded conditions at the parish jail, which then was located on the courthouse grounds in downtown Crowley.
Under threat from a federal judge to shut down the parish jail, the jury purchased the buildings and had them configured to provide 30 beds for prisoners — 15 parish prisoners and 15 Department of Corrections prisoners, payment for the latter of which would help pay for the buildings.
In the ensuing years a new parish lock-up was built adjacent to the modular buildings.