Kitchen remodel begins at jail

May 3 – Kitchen renovations began at Amos G. Ward Detention Center.

Two-decade-old kitchen appliances were removed to make room for new stoves, dishwashers, sinks, etc., as part of the $3.4 million prison remodeling project.

“Over two decades of a 24-hour kitchen, there’s been some wear and tear,” said Rogers County Undersheriff Jon Sappington.

Sappington said the kitchen remodel will include minor repairs to the floor and plumbing, fresh spray paint and cleaning, and the purchase of new appliances throughout the kitchen.

The kitchen remodel is the second part of the second phase of the prison remodeling project awarded to Miller-Tippens Construction Company. The project started in May 2021 and is divided into three phases.

Phase one was the relocation of the evidence room – which is complete except for a few minor cosmetic items which will be completed in phase three.

Phase two expands the booking area and refurbishes the kitchen.

Phase three will add two additional dormitory-style pods and relocate the visitation and administration area.

The project doesn’t add square footage, but rather moves things around to use the available space.

Sappington said daily kitchen operations have been moved to a smaller area, forcing the menu to switch to quick-to-prepare items — like pizzas and corn dogs.

“It’s a limited menu, but it’s also a more expensive menu,” he said.

Some menu items include eggs, cookies, and sausage in the morning, sandwiches at lunchtime, and pizza for dinner.

Sappington said the normal budget — before inflation issues — for the kitchen was about $25,000 a month, but because of the menu change, it’s up 25%.

The construction work on the kitchen is expected to take 60 days.

“We can stand upside down for 60 days,” he said. “Here we are upside down.”

Sappington said the construction work in the booking area is nearing completion, they are just waiting for the door locks. The posting area has been expanded by increasing the number of posting cells from four to eight.

The story goes on

“This is another one of these that’s been affected, be it COVID, shipping or manufacturing – we tried to backorder these in December or January and they told us there was a 6 month lead time,” he said.

Phase three is expected to begin in June.

Sappington said they won’t have the specific number of beds being added until the firefighter and prison inspector arrive at the end of the project.

“I think based on the numbers at the moment – 250 is the max – and going over 320/330 but we don’t know what the number will be,” he said.

Sappington said they expect a 25 percent increase in bed count.

The prison needs women’s quarters as there are only two women’s quarters, he said.

“The only debate will be whether we put some men in an open dorm to leave a women’s lockdown unit, or do we leave all women in open dorms? These are the types of questions that we need to resolve administratively. ” he said.

The need for this transformation arose from a combination of events, including the McGirt ruling and judicial changes, which resulted in an increase in prison capacity, which also led to an increase in COVID cases.

“From there we’ve done our best in terms of physical distancing, social distancing and housing refurbishment, but this project was a great opportunity to provide additional housing to help manage this as we progressed,” he said.

Sappington said COVID numbers were down but housing was up.

“Real estate is on the way up,” he said. “That’s usually the case at this time of year.”

He said they house around 230-240 inmates.

Sappington said they’re sitting at about 200 inmates in the winter, but in the spring and summer they’re seeing the numbers climb to the mid-200s to the low 300s.

The prison was built in 2000 with a capacity of 180 inmates. In 2011 more beds were added, increasing the capacity to 250. This is the first time the prison has been remodeled.

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