County jail expansion on continues on track

The construction of the new Imperial County detention facility continues making progress and is on schedule.

The Oren r. Fox detention facility in El Centro is coming closer to completion with a targeted date of January 15 , 2018.

The new medium-security facility will be added to the west side of the existing jail and will consist of two levels, with more than 200 beds, housing areas, a teaching kitchen, laundry area, as well as a video visitation center.

Construction supervisors and Sheriff Ray Loera were at this morning’s county supervisors’ meeting to update the board on the status of the project.

Loera says the new center will give his office a better opportunity to offer rehabilitation services, benefiting not only those incarcerated but the whole community.

“Our key is to try make changes in people’s lives and with this new facility we will have that space to provide those services,” said Loera, “People think about the jail as just where you keep people incarcerated but this is going to be a whole new concept on how we develop people to come out of that facility.”

Loera says the total cost awarded for this project was $33 million and says they hope to hit the mark and stay within budget.