PLANS FOR JUVENILE JUSTICE CENTER ARE UNVEILED

Cape County commissioners got their first look at preliminary plans for a new juvenile justice center at a meeting Monday morning.

"It looks wonderful," said presiding commissioner Gerald W. Jones, "but of more interest to me is how much it's going to cost."

The plans, presented by Thomas Holshouser of Holshouser and Associates architectural firm, gave commissioners a general idea of what the facility will look like. The next step is getting an estimate on how much it will cost to build the facility that will feature a one-story detention area and a two-story section to house juvenile offices and a courtroom.

Holshouser will begin work on the estimates.

"Once we get a general cost factor, then we can start working on more definite plans," said Jones.

The estimate is the facility will cost about $3 million and will be portioned among Cape Girardeau, Bollinger and Perry counties, he said. Cape Girardeau County bears the largest portion of the cost, about 70 percent.

The center will be built on an undeveloped Cape Girardeau County site in an industrial area at the end of Progress Street west of South Kingshighway. The county bought land from the Southeast Missouri University Foundation for $175,000.

The plans bring together many ideas gleaned from other juvenile centers as well as considerations of legal requirements for housing juveniles, said Randy Rhodes, the county's chief juvenile officer.

The heart of the detention area is a control room where windows and cameras will allow a guard to keep a watch on juveniles in the facility, Rhodes said. It will look out directly on three classrooms, a dining area, a visitor's area and an intake area.

The control room will keep watch on the facility's 24 one-person cells with cameras. There will also be small control rooms in each of three eight-cell blocks.

The cells will be built in blocks of eight so inmate populations can be separated, Rhodes said. For instance, less serious offenders could be housed in one block, while those who have committed more serious crimes could be housed in another. There will be a block for female juveniles.

The three classrooms also allow separation of populations, he said.

A padded room next to the control center will offer a place to keep juveniles with psychological problems under constant supervision while awaiting transfer to St. Louis or Springfield, Rhodes said.

The detention center will also have four holding cells, a medical area, a kitchen, and outdoor and indoor recreation areas.

Having classrooms, cells, courtroom and medical areas under one roof will mean juveniles won't have to be transferred to different buildings as they are now.

The detention area and the courtroom area are all designed with safety in mind. The design allows limited access to the public, allows juveniles to be watched at all times and offers sally ports to help prevent escapes. Sally ports are rooms with two locked doors, the first of which must be closed before opening the second.

Rhodes said he was going to send copies of the preliminary plans to officials who have built other juvenile centers and a jail consultant for their opinions on the design.

The juvenile center will be funded, at least in part, with about $200,000 a year that previously went for juvenile office salaries. Last July, Missouri's juvenile officers were put on the state payroll, freeing up county revenue for other expenses associated with juvenile offices.

In Cape Girardeau County, the revenue will be used to help build the new juvenile justice center, Jones said.

Rhodes will apply for federal and state grants to help pay for the construction project.