The Arapahoe County Detention Center is undergoing a sizable expansion, with County Commissioners having recently toured the new kitchen and laundry facilities. According to Arapahoe County, this expansion is an aspect of a larger $46.4 million project funded by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), marking the county's significant capital improvement effort in recent memory.
Commissioner Leslie Summey highlighted the necessity of this upgrade, "Our jail was built in 1986 for a population of 386 inmates. As the county has grown, so, too, has the need for additional space even after several expansions," she said, as per Arapahoe County. The newly installed kitchen and laundry spaces are just the beginning, with plans to shortly move to construct a new medical and behavioral health area designed to better serve inmates' needs.
The project, which started in September 2023, aims to not only address present concerns but also to lay the groundwork for future growth. Arapahoe County has land reserves surrounding the Detention Center, awaiting the identification of funding sources to further expand the facility.
With the expansion set to begin operations in the first week of April, the new facilities boast some notable figures: 5,900 linear feet of pipe, 1,200 feet of razor wire, 4,000 feet of barbed wire, and 22 tons of steel, which Arapahoe County compares to laying 59 football fields back-to-back and the weight equivalent to 44 grand pianos. These statistics reflect the extensive scale of the project, aimed at addressing the needs of a growing inmate population and enhancing operational capacity for years to come.
