The Pulaski County sheriff's office can begin installing a guardrail to prevent anyone from jumping from the second floor of the county jail, after a Quorum Court vote approving the expenditure Tuesday night.
But the sheriff's office will first need to secure a bid from a company to do the project, estimated to cost $600,000 in its first phase and $1.2 million total.
Earlier Tuesday, the county purchasing department opened bids for the project but discovered only one company had bid -- St. Cloud, Minn.-based Magna Manufacturing -- and that the company had not included the required performance bond, Comptroller Mike Hutchens said.
Magna Manufacturing likely will bid again and do the project using grated steel guards, Chief Deputy Mike Lowery said. The company specializes in installing such fences in jails and prisons across the country.
The sheriff's office plans to finance the project in two phases for a total $1.2 million, Lowery said.
The first phase would be rails for eight of the jail's 15 units that have second floors and the second phase would include the final seven units.
The jail has a rail to keep people from falling accidentally, but inmates have jumped in suicide attempts before.
At least three jumps and two subsequent deaths have occurred at the jail in the past two years.
Norman Robert Schroeder, 59, and Richard Plant, 40, both died after hitting their heads on the floor.
Another inmate injured both legs after falling from the second floor of a jail unit.
The funds for the project come from Act 1188, which levies a $5 fee on people found guilty of misdemeanor and traffic offenses. The sheriff's office collects a portion of that fee and must get Quorum Court approval to appropriate funds from it.
The ordinance passed Tuesday by the Quorum Court also includes $107,000 in Act 1188 funds for new locks and doors at the youth lockup and $76,000 for repairs to coolers at the adult jail.
The ordinance passed 10-0, with little discussion and with Justices of the Peace Tyler Denton, D-Little Rock, Donna Massey, D-Little Rock, Judy Green, D-Little Rock, Luke McCoy, R-Sherwood, and Phil Stowers, R-Maumelle, absent from the vote. Green attended the second half of the meeting.
Metro on 08/26/2015