Dallas County Detention Center Operations Analysis and Facility Condition Assessment

CGL conducted an operational assessment for the following detention facilities:

• Building A – West Tower
• Building B – Intake/Release Center
• North Tower (including Gill-Hernandez
  Medical Center)
• South Tower
• Court Holding – Frank Crowley Courts
  Building

The operational assessment reviewed whether the current design, layout and conditions of the detention facilities support the operational goals and practices of the Sheriff’s Office and Dallas County.

To develop this analysis CGL reviewed relevant documents provided by the Dallas County Facilities Management Division and the Sheriff’s Office. CGL staff were on-site for a full week and interviewed detention leadership, toured every floor of every detention facility with facility administrators, observed current practices, and interviewed staff on their posts.

The facilities of the Dallas County Criminal Justice Center are uniquely different from
one another and reflective of different construction designs to meet the everchanging
needs of a detention system over time. While these facilities may have been designed to meet correctional needs and philosophies at the time of construction, the fact is that the requirements that local detention facilities must comply with are ever-changing. In the last 10-20 years alone, changes in national mandates, legal decisions and societal expectations have made operating a jail more complicated requiring increased sophistication.

Facility conditions assessments were separately conducted by our engineering partner MEP and our in-house facility maintenance group for these facilities plus the entirety of the Frank Crowley Courts Building.