Back in 2022, Labella Associates was hired to do an evaluation of the county jail which sits in Mayville, across the street from the county courthouse and county office buildings. They partnered with Justice Planners, a criminal justice and corrections consulting firm that provides technical assistance, project management, standards compliance, training, analyses and audits of jails, detention centers, county prisons, courts and community-based organizations.

Last fall, the county legislature also formed a special committee to do a needs assessment of the jail.

At the legislature’s Public Facilities Committee meeting this past week, a presentation was given on the county jail. A similar presentation is expected to be given to the full legislature.

Sheriff Jim Quattrone noted that part of the jail was constructed in 1939 and is nearing the end of its useful life. “Quite frankly, I don’t like putting anybody in that section of the jail, but it’s needed,” he said.

County officials are being presented plans to upgrade the jail, which could cost $120 million.

Inmates have been known to break off pieces of the old jail and try to use them as weapons.

During the presentation, consultants noted that the state Department of Corrections doesn’t want the older portion used. Some of the issues with the older portion of the jail is that it doesn’t have adequate program space and is very expensive to maintain.

Justice Planners did a demographics evaluation, trying to predict a statistical forecast of what the jail’s use will be in the future. From 2022 to 2047, Justice Planners predicts a 15.5% drop of males ages 20-49 being incarcerated. That group is the largest user of the jail. Some of that is due to a predicted drop in county population.

Justice Planners noted that the forecast uses the assumption that there are no changes or alterations to the laws. One question that remains is if state leaders will modify or repeal bail reform. There was a second forecast that looked at bookings from 2019.

Combining the two forecasts and working with the sheriff, the consultants developed a model that shows the county will need 224 beds and that none of those beds will be used for federal inmates. That would mean a facility would need to be about 115,000 square feet.

This jail cell was constructed in 1939 and is still used today. File photos by Gregory Bacon

The jail currently has 276 beds available for use, some of which are used to house federal inmates, paid by the federal government.

The consultants said the plan is to remove the 1939 portion of the jail but keep the portion that was built in 1970 as well as the portion that was built in 2003 and add on.

Even though the jail would only have 224 beds, there would be space available to expand in the future if needed.

The consultants proposed building the new portion and then tearing down the 1939 section, making that into a parking lot and a new entrance. By doing this, the county would be able to continue to house its inmates during construction.

The price of the construction is quite high.

Using 2025 prices, the consultants estimate that it would cost between $115 million to $120 million.

By comparison, Chautauqua County’s entire budget for 2025 is $301.9 million and the levy is little less than $73.3 million. The levy is the amount collected by county taxes.

Quattrone expressed concerns that the state may soon shut down the old section of the jail.

“That’s about 96 beds and we would end up having to likely house incarcerated individuals out to other facilities – likely Cattaraugus County, Allegany County and possibly beyond, depending on their status,” he said.

Quattrone said it would cost the county $110 a day to house an inmate in a neighboring county. The county would also be responsible for transporting the inmates as well.

“Just to give you an idea, we have between 10 and 20 transports of incarcerated individuals each day. We’re moving incarcerated individuals back and forth to court and to medical appointments, so if one of those individuals is in Cattaraugus County, we’re going to be sending our transport units to Cattaraugus County, bringing them back to court here, and then back to Cattaraugus County. So that’s an additional cost,” he said.

Quattrone said safety is a key reason why the work is needed.

“There’s parts of that 1939 jail that are falling apart and incarcerated individuals are making weapons out of some of the parts that are falling,” he said.

County Finance Director Kitty Crow said she can’t envision the county being able to pay for the work beforehand. If the costs were spread out over 50 years, the county would be looking at spending $2.3 million a year plus borrowing costs.

Quattrone admitted the cost “frightens” him, but added that delaying the project won’t solve anything.

“That $120 million is not going to go down. We’re just going to continue to see costs going up if we don’t move forward,” he said.

Quattrone added that they have an outside organization that is looking for grants but so far has been unsuccessful.

No decisions were made. Committee members were told this was a presentation to start the process and that another presentation would take place Wednesday.