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Work Begins On Addition To County Jail

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By DAVID SOMMER

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 10, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - It won't be a beautiful addition to Pasco County's stable of government buildings, but the waterfront view will be pretty.

Ground was broken Friday on a $17.8 million addition to the Land O' Lakes Jail. The three-story building is to replace two tentlike structures now used to house an overflow of prisoners and will boost the Pasco County Sheriff's Office prisoner capacity to 1,775 permanent beds.

That is up 768 beds from the current 1,007 capacity. Sheriff's spokesman Kevin Doll said the county's two lockups, including the old jail near New Port Richey, had an average daily population last year of 1,271 inmates.

"When I got elected in 2000, I knew we were going to increase the jail population and we doubled it," Sheriff Bob White said Friday, with a hint of pride at the feat.

White credited county commissioners, two of whom were on hand for Friday's groundbreaking near a lake behind the existing jail, with finally coming up with the funding to expand the jail.

"It's taken us almost eight years to bring it to this point, and it's going to take us a year to build it," White said.

Staffing remains an issue, the sheriff said. Once complete, the new jail will require 88 new hires, including nurses, deputies and civilian control room operators, White said.

Tito Vargas, co-owner of principal contractor Peter R. Brown Construction Inc., said he expects to spread about 30 percent to 40 percent of the project's work among local subcontractors.

"We are probably the biggest jail builder in the state of Florida," Vargas said. "Right now we're building a new Polk County Jail for $64 million."

Brown Construction has also built jails or jail additions in Indian River and Hillsborough counties, he said.

The company also builds schools and is putting the finishing touches on major renovations to Stewart Middle School in Zephyrhills, Vargas said.

The addition should be complete by August 2009, White said. Once it is ready, two tentlike structures, which were rented as temporary inmate housing, can be taken down.

Reporter David Sommer can be reached at (727) 815-1087 or dsommer@tampatrib.com.

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