Description

Before SteelCell was hired, Smith County Texas was spending approximately $2 million per year housing prisoners in other facilities. Their detention center was overcrowded and lacked maximum security cells.

County officials hired HDR to provide a renovation plan. The design increased inmate capacity in the downtown jail, providing an additional 384 beds to relieve overcrowding and updated the facility with new technologies.

SteelCell of North America provided prefabricated steel units for the addition. The project is located on a four level mid-rise building in downtown Tyler, Texas. SteelCell met the logistical challenges of a downtown pre-existing building with lightweight, stackable units that were shipped to the site just in time. The cells could be inserted into the building from the street, without the need of a laydown yard or large hoisting equipment.