Fayette

County's governing body Monday got its first look

at detailed plans for the county's new $55

million jail and courthouse complex.

Jim

Ingram of Ingram Parris Group, design architects

for the project, presented floor plans and color

renderings following the commission's budget

workshop.

Commissioners

are expected to approve a "notice to

proceed" during their business meeting

Thursday, authorizing project manager Jim Mallett

to move ahead with final design work.

"We've

pretty much been able to satisfy everybody,"

Mallett told the commissioners Monday, referring

to wish lists from the judges, prosecutors, law

enforcement officers and clerks who will occupy

the sprawling new complex once it's completed.

Architects

and consultants met with all the senior officials

involved and resolved most of their concerns, he

said, though a few requests couldn't be met for

security reasons. All those involved signed off

on the preliminary design, said Ingram.

The

plans Ingram presented show six new jail pods,

each with space for 64 inmates, and each easily

divided into spaces of 40 and 24, in case there's

a need to separate small groups from the main

prison body, such as females or violent

criminals.

Security

is paramount in the design, he said.

"Minimizing inmate movement is central to

it," he said. "If the inmates generally

stay put, it's a more efficient facility to

operate, and it's more secure," he added.

Inmates

will eat, sleep and get some outside recreation

time without having to move about in areas other

than their living units, he said. And they'll

travel from jail to the new courthouse for trials

in tunnels. Separate elevators will take them to

holding areas next to the courtrooms, with the

general public using a different set of elevators

and judges using a third set.

The

three-story courthouse will have an open atrium,

with offices for security officers right next to

the main entrance.

Along

with facilities for the clerk of court, two

Magistrate Courtrooms will be on the first floor.

Two identical Superior Courtrooms and two State

Courtrooms will occupy much of the second floor,

along with a 200-seat jury selection room and a

grand jury meeting suite.

Courtrooms

will have extra room at the back for media

coverage, and one courtroom may be set up with

extra space for particularly high-profile cases,

said Ingram.

All

entrances will have panic locks and will be

monitored by closed circuit television, he added.

Mallett

said he hopes to have final design completed by

late fall and will be ready to bid the project by

January, with ground breaking in the spring.

Commissioner

Greg Dunn, who is the commission's liaison for

the judicial center project, said designers have

worked hard to plan the project well to eliminate

costly change orders. "You probably can't

build a project this size without any change

orders, but we're going to try," he said.

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