HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Curious to see the inside of the Reno County Correctional Facility? There will be a public open house of the new jail facility at 1800 S. Severance this Sunday, July 19.
The day will start off at 1:45 p.m. with the dedication of Fountain Hall with retired Reno County Sheriff Jim Fountain present with his family.
Then the public tours will begin at 2 p.m. and run through 6 p.m.
The building of the Reno County Correctional Facility was approved by the voters on April 2, 2013. The cost of $21 million dollars was successful at the polls with over 70 percent approval.
This 75,000 square foot facility sets on nearly 11 acres of land and has a capacity of 250 inmates, with potential growth to 500. However, the goal of the Reno County Sheriff’s Office is to keep from building the additional 250 beds by reducing high recidivism rates. This will be accomplished by offering programs to change the lives of inmates so they can be more productive citizens.
Some programs that will be offered are: Mental Health Services, Drug Peer Mentor Counseling, Cognitive Thinking Skills to Change Behavior, Strengthening Families, Lifeskills for Parents, Alcohol and Narcotics Anonymous, Religious Programs, Reading, How to Apply for a Job and How to do a Job Interview.
None of these programs can be successful, however, if an inmate cannot have structure. Structure will be provided starting in their cells with the requirement that all Minimum and Medium Security Inmates are out of their cells by 6 a.m., beds are made and they are involved in activities in the dayroom, classroom, exercise pod or on work details around the facility. They will not be allowed back into their cells until 10 p.m., lights out.
This all fits into the Mission Statement of the Reno County Correctional Facility:
“The mission of the Reno County Correctional Facility is to enhance public safety by providing safe, secure, and humane correctional facilities, providing protection to the public by confinement of those who have violated criminal law, and assisting victims of crime. Ultimately reducing offender recidivism by collaborating with local partners in adopting programs to assist inmates through teaching of life skills and preparing them for successful re-entry to society.”
Outside of Minimum and Medium security classifications, the Reno County Correctional Facility will also house inmate classifications of Maximum, Special Management, Disciplinary Segregation, Administrative Segregation, Protective Custody and Work Release.
Safety of the Community and Staff is also the very highest priority. This new facility utilizes state of the art security features to give the community and staff the safest working and environmental conditions possible.