Location: Mount Sterling, Kentucky

The location selected by the owner for this project was a sloping site adjacent to a residential neighborhood.   The program called for a 130-bed full service facility to house pre-trial and sentenced male, female and juvenile inmates.

CMW's solution grouped spaces not requiring natural light from windows - kitchen, mechanical room, multi-purpose rooms, storage rooms, etc. - and placed them below grade on the uphill side of the site.   Entrances and housing units were placed on the downhill side of the site, positioning windows to take advantage of natural lighting.   Configuring the building in this way minimized the cost of the site work, provided useful earth-sheltering insulation and allowed the building to fit gracefully into the natural terrain.   Reinforced masonry construction was used throughout the building with precast hollowcore concrete slabs for roof construction.   The building's exterior is synthetic plaster.

This detention center houses adult males, adult females and juveniles in maximum, medium and minimum- security classifications, with some male confinement areas stacked.   The juvenile area consists of a 4-bed dorm, two individual cells with a dayroom, conference room, booking area and visitation space.   The area has a capacity for six juveniles and can serve only an intermittent holding type.

As much as possible, a podular design was used for housing areas, with stacked dorms and cell-blocks surrounding a control center.   Like a majority of our jails, the control center includes graphic panels that control locks, communications systems, fire alarm system, smoke evacuation system, HVAC controls, camera and video systems, and emergency power systems.

This project was completed in 1987.