On any given day, the Dallas (Texas) County Jail adds between 300 and 350 inmates to its population of about 6,000. Among those new arrivals, at least half are ill, and about one in every six has some kind of mental illness.
Providing medical care within a correctional facility poses difficult logistical problems. On a busy day, the Dallas County Jail has to send up to 10 patients to nearby Parkland Hospital for higher levels of care in Parkland’s emergency department or inpatient area. Those transfers represent a security risk and add to the cost of guarding prisoners.
Since taking over the correctional health services for the jail in 2006, Parkland Health & Hospital System has remade the facility into a recognized national model for providing efficient healthcare to the incarcerated. More recently, Parkland has been using $38 million of county money to retrofit the three bottom floors of the jail’s North Tower into medical and mental health infirmaries totaling 300 beds, an expanded pharmacy, classrooms, and administrative offices.
Sharon Phillips, RN, Chief Administrative Officer for Parkland Health & Hospital Services, says the new facility will allow Parkland to better monitor its more acutely ill inmates, perform minor surgery, and provide IV treatments without having to transport prisoners outside the jail. A new mental health floor will offer classes in anger management, personal hygiene, and health maintenance.
Phillips says that once the new facility is up and running, most of the sick or injured inmates who previously had to be sent to area medical centers will be able to be treated at the jail’s infirmary or medical/surgical unit. “One of the most common reasons we send individuals to the Parkland campus is for chest pain,” she says. “When the new infirmary opens, we will be able to keep most of those inmates at the jail.”
Architecture firm HDR, which designed the jail more than two decades ago, is handling the renovation. HDR Senior Project Manager Jeffrey Forrest says clearing, demolishing, and rebuilding the interiors of three bottom floors without disturbing the six floors above led to some surprises, such as a deeply buried underground sewer system that needed to be uprooted.
The medical facility is scheduled to open next May. Azteca + Russell + Turner is the joint venture GC. Hill International is the project manager.
Read about more innovations from BD+C's 2014 Great Solutions Report.
Related Stories
| Aug 12, 2016
Top 100 Office Architecture Firms
Gensler, HOK, and Perkins+Will top Building Design+Construction’s annual ranking of the nation’s largest office sector architecture and A/E firms, as reported in the 2016 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 11, 2016
RETAIL GIANTS: Retailers and developers mix it up to stay relevant with shoppers
Retail is becoming closely aligned with entertainment, and malls that can be repositioned as lifestyle centers will have enhanced value.
| Aug 10, 2016
Top 90 Retail Architecture Firms
Gensler, GreenbergFarrow, and MG2 top Building Design+Construction’s annual ranking of the nation’s largest retail sector architecture and A/E firms, as reported in the 2016 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 10, 2016
DATA CENTER GIANTS: Information overload is pushing the limits of mission-critical facilities
Streamlined design and delivery approaches for individual business enterprises and co-location facilities are being born out of the necessity to bring new capacity online as quickly as possible.
| Aug 10, 2016
Top 30 Data Center Architecture Firms
Gensler, Corgan, and HDR top Building Design+Construction’s annual ranking of the nation’s largest data center sector architecture and A/E firms, as reported in the 2016 Giants 300 Report.
| Aug 10, 2016
UNIVERSITY GIANTS: Facing money woes, the nation's colleges double down on innovative ideas
Budget constraints are compelling some public institutions to pursue alternative methods of financing their major building projects.
| Aug 9, 2016
Top 100 University Architecture Firms
Gensler, Perkins+Will, and CannonDesign top Building Design+Construction’s annual ranking of the nation’s largest university sector architecture and A/E firms, as reported in the 2016 Giants 300 Report.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Aug 9, 2016
Renascent architecture: Demolished Frank Lloyd Wright structures get new life
The Frank Lloyd Wright Revival Initiative is set to begin its reconstruction efforts with the Banff Pavilion, which was demolished in 1939.
Building Team | Aug 4, 2016
Thought leaders from architecture, engineering and construction to meet at 2016 Bluebeam eXtreme Conference
Bluebeam users inspire technological change through shared insights and training at three-day event.
| Aug 4, 2016
MULTIFAMILY BUILDING GIANTS: Rental complexes focus on affordability, accessibility, and specialty amenities
To address the affordability problem and attract tenants, owners and developers are experimenting with smaller and smaller units, amenity-rich environments, and “co-living” concepts.
