A new, modern Justice and Transition Center has been a longtime coming in Dutchess County. Officials say the new facility will focus on the rehabilitation of inmates, so they can successfully transition back into the community.

They also said the 308-bed center is safer and more cost-effective. 

What You Need To Know

  • It took 10 years to plan, design and transition into the new building

  • The facility consists of 308 beds, areas for programming and medical treatment, efficient technology and more

  • According to Sheriff Imperati, the facility has around 230 incarcerated individuals each day that are all accused of crimes in Dutchess County

Things are up and running at the new Dutchess County Justice and Transition Center. Just last week, the incarcerated individuals were transferred over into the facility.

It took 10 years to plan, design and transition into the new building.

“It's a great, efficient-working facility,” said Dutchess County Sheriff Kirk Imperati. “It's a very great positive working environment for the correctional officers, as well as the incarcerated individuals.”

In addition to the 308 beds, the facility consists of areas for programming and medical treatment, efficient technology and more.

The goal is to provide a well-equipped space to address the root causes of criminal activities and help those who are incarcerated transition back into the community while preventing future incidents.

The county said operational costs are expected to be significantly less than the previous facility and believes this one is not only more efficient, but also safer. 

Six officers are part of the Justice and Transition Center Transition team. Their job is to ensure the design meets the needs of both the correction officers and incarcerated individuals and aligns with policies and procedures.

Sgt. Will Moore is a member of that team.

“There's a lot of good sightlines, so there's not a lot of blind spots in the housing units, which in our old building, there was a lot of turns and a lot of corners and a lot of blind spots, which made it hard to always keep an eye on people,” Moore said.

Imperati said the original design arranged for a nearly 300,000-square-foot facility, but that decreased to about 150,000 square feet in 2019.

“County leaders got together, discussed bail reform, discussed how our daily population numbers reduced drastically, and they figured that we could downsize this project to come in on time and on budget,” Imperati said.

He said there was a budget of $128 million, but the project came in under that.

According to Imperati, the facility has around 230 incarcerated individuals each day that are accused of crimes in Dutchess County.

He said 10% of the beds must be vacant for classification purposes and new entries into the facility.

“In a couple of years, we're concerned about having hitting that maximum number,” Imperati said. “We'll go over to the ‘95 section of the jail, which we're maintaining for overflow, which is an additional hundred cells.”

Although the move has been made, the sheriff and transition team said the project is far from complete.

The transition team will still be working for another 18 months to make sure the facility is functioning properly and any glitches are fixed.