COUNTY JAIL: COMMISSION VIEWS POSSIBLE ADDITION

JACKSON - The Cape Girardeau County Commission has conducted preliminary discussions with an architect about expanding the county jail.

The expansion being considered would be to the north of the jail and would provide a dormitory to house up to eight female prisoners.

The county commission also has agreed to seek bids to replace columns on the front of Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau. Four columns 24-feet tall on the front of the courthouse and two, half-round columns against the front of the building would be replaced.

Associate Commissioner E.C. Younghouse said the columns are getting soft and are in need of replacement. The columns have been damaged by rot and woodpeckers that hammered them about a year ago.

Bids will be opened on Nov. 14 at 11 a.m.

A number of weeks ago Sheriff Norman Copeland said he and the circuit judges had been discussing a need to expand the jail to include additional space for female prisoners. The present facility, built about 15 years ago, has a total capacity of 64 prisoners but space for only four women.

In recent years the number of women prisoners has been increasing and often they are given alternative jail sentences because of a lack of space. When women are sentenced to jail, many have to be boarded in other jails because of limited space here.

Copeland and Presiding Circuit Judge A.J. Seier have said expansion of the jail is a top priority.

Presiding Commissioner Gene Huckstep, who in the past has balked at overtures from the sheriff and judge about expanding the jail, conceded a need to provide more space for women prisoners.

John Dudley, an architect, has discussed the expansion with the sheriff and briefly with the county commission. Huckstep said the commission has not authorized final design of the addition, but the expansion likely will be part of the county's 1992 budget.

Huckstep asked Dudley to look at the feasibility of building onto the jail and its impact on the present heating system and sewers in the building. Dudley also was asked to provide input on the appearance of the building with the extension.

The dormitory for prisoners would have about 600 square feet of space on the ground floor. The second floor would have open space that could be used for storage.

"What we are looking at right now are figures for our budget process," said Huckstep. "No authorization has been given for design of the extension."

In discussing the bidding process for courthouse columns, Dudley said new ones will be made of fiberglass, which should eliminate the rot problem. A steel beam would support the roof of the porch.

Dudley said the columns should not look much different than they do now.

Younghouse said he was unsure when the columns were last replaced, but several years ago the columns were cut off at the bottom and a base was built under them because they were rotting.