MIDLAND, Texas — Midland County Commissioner's Court passed an action Tuesday that could make progress on a potential new jail in Midland.
The RFQ/RFP (Request for quote/request for proposal) CMAR (Construction Manager at-risk) was passed in order to give the special projects commissioner permission to begin looking for a construction manager for the project.
"This construction manager will be our liaison between us, the court, the county, and the architects, the engineers and the actual vendors doing the construction project," said Midland County Judge Terry Johnson.
Johnson ran for County Judge four years ago on the premise of a new jail, and says that this new jail will be safer for both inmates and staff.
“The new jail, which we have the plans which we plan to bring out to the public shortly, it's not just a new facility, it is a safe facility, and that's what really sold me on this new facility," Johnson said. "The prisoners are safe, but also our workforce, our jailers and our detention force, they're safe."
The State of Texas requires jails to have a minimum bed capacity of 850. Due to Midland's rapid growth over the past few years, the state says that number will soon hit 1,200. The current Midland jail only has a capacity of 500, much smaller than what is needed.
“The jail we have, the state has said we need a 850 bed capacity jail, we have a 500 capacity right now," Johnson said. "They also said we’re gonna need 1,200 beds based on the growth of everything in the area. The area where we have the jail now, we can’t add up to 850 beds, certainly can’t grow up to 1,200 beds.”
So far, there are no imminent plans to begin construction on any jail within Midland.