PITTSFIELD TWP. – Washtenaw County is getting more room to deal with those who run afoul of the law.

The county is expanding its jail and courtroom space to address some key deficiencies: on a per capita basis, Washtenaw County has fewer jail beds than any other county in the state. The Washtenaw County Jail has a rated capacity of 332 beds, but on any given day, the jail is overcrowded by 23 inmates.

The jail expansion involves numerous renovations, including upgrades to the infrastructure; expansion of support services such as kitchen, laundry, medical, booking, holding cells and property storage, and adding a minimum of 112 additional beds.  Renovations to District Court 14A include three new courtrooms and their respective support areas.

Combined, the jail and district court renovation – to what is officially the Washtenaw County Service Center – will cost about $34 million.

“We’re plugging along,” said Derrick Sawinski of Clark Construction, which is managing the building process. “We expect to be complete in the fall of 2010.”

Operations at the jail and court are continuing amid the construction. Washtenaw County Commissioner Jeff Irwin, who chaired the commission’s Public Safety and Justice Oversight Committee until last January, said he has heard from county employees on site that the influx of construction workers is a “hassle,” but they’re coping and looking forward to their new work environment.

Located at Hogback and Washtenaw Rds., Irwin said the condition of both the court and jail facilities has steadily deteriorated over the past few years. The jail was built in 1978, and the court has been using space in a former seminary building. The jail’s kitchen is undersized. Roofs leak. Jails are being manually opened with keys rather than operated electronically. Deputies shuttle prisoners across a parking lot between the court building and the jail, rather than in an enclosed transfer arrangement.

All those issues, and more, will be addressed with this renovation.

“The court needed work, the jail needed work,” Irwin said. “They’re really quite bad, and have been neglected for a long time, so we decided to address both at once. From what I’ve heard, it sounds like the project is on target.”