Davis jail expansion eagerly awaited

FARMINGTON — One year into the expansion of the Davis County Jail, and Sheriff Bud Cox says the extra space couldn't be coming too soon.

"We've been sleeping people on the floor for five years," he said Wednesday.

In larger cells, a sled-shaped, solid plastic cot, called a toboggan, sits on the floor, making double-bunked cells into triple-bunked cells. The toboggans got their names when some inmates realized they could ride them down the stairs in their housing unit.

That only happened one day, said jail commander Capt. Bob Yeaman.

The $24.8 million expansion project is on schedule and on budget. Renovating the old jail poses significant challenges, said Ed Deffner, the Layton Construction project manager over the jail.

"Everything you do is made for permanence and security," Deffner said.

Building materials are steel, concrete, blocks and prefabricated concrete cells, which fit together like Legos and were more cost-effective than building each cell on site, Deffner said.

The 400-bed jail expansion is expected to open for business in March 2007, although the county will take control of it by the end of this year to give officers a chance to inspect it and eliminate any potential hiding places for inmates.

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E-mail: jdougherty@desnews.com