St. Tammany Parish Government has signed a contract with a company out of Illinois to inspect and report on the security of the parish jail.

Based out of the Chicago area, PSA-Dewberry has been planning and designing detention and correctional facilities for more than three decades.

Suzanne Parsons Stymiest, spokesperson for the parish, said the parish government contracted with the company “to conduct a Facility Condition Assessment of the St. Tammany Parish Jail.” Under the contract the company will be required to conduct an analysis of the entire 1,200 bed facility. Stymiest said they have been asked to look at all aspects of the structure itself, including door hardware, locks and the infamous ceiling tiles. They have also been charged with looking at the staffing and operations of the jail as well as the technology used to maintain security at the facility.

Stymiest said the company is highly qualified to conduct this assessment. In a qualifications statement released to the media, PSA-Dewberry states “To date, our firm’s architects and planners, many of whom have devoted the majority of their career to this unique project type, have designed over 60,000 adult and juvenile secure beds of all custody levels. They have personally participated in the evolution of the linear, indirect supervised jail into the new generation podular, direct supervision facility.”

The company has offices in six states, and the team that visited St. Tammany to review the contract was out of the Dallas office.

“When President Davis decided to have an outside independent review of the jail, his office began seeking recommendations and referrals nationwide,” Stymiest said. “This firm had demonstrated experience in this type of project.”

The contract agreed upon between the company and the parish includes 24 man-hours of on-site inspections and a written analysis. Stymiest said the entire cost of the analysis is not expected to exceed $10,000.

A purchase order for the analysis has already been written off the jail account, which is funded through a quarter-cent sales tax approved by the voters.

Sheriff Jack Strain has lobbied for years for the parish to contribute more funding to that account beyond that sales tax revenue, but Davis and the Parish Council have stood by their opinion that Strain needs to make due with what he has and live within his means.

The parish began searching for a qualified company to assess security at the jail after accused murder Carlos Rodriguez escaped last month. Rodriguez was recaptured a week later after he was found hiding in the attic of a Kenner church.

However, his week of freedom was enough to shaken the security of many St. Tammany residents, especially those living in the residential area surrounding the jail, especially in light of the fact that this was the second escape from the jail in less than a year. In June 2009, four prisoners took advantage of inadequate screws and used a hacksaw smuggled into the facility to break out of a window in the jail.

Following the most recent breakout, Strain said he had questions about the structure of the jail and its ability to be defeated by prisoners. While Rodriguez was still on the lose, Strain met with Corrections Consultant Tom Holden and engineers with Richard Lambert Associates who designed the jail and asked them to review the structure to identify any other weaknesses not already brought to light by the two breakouts.

Rodriguez was able to get out of the jail by getting through a ceiling tile, crawling through a crawlspace and breaking through a concrete wall. Once outside the building he used a twisted bed sheet to get over the razor wire and fled in a waiting car. Strain asked engineers to review the security of the facility and to report back to him as soon as possible, but instead of a report on the security of the jail, what Strain received back was a letter from Holden requesting he be released of any liability before conducting a review of the jail’s security.

Bonnett said Strain was not willing to do that and has decided, with Davis, to seek out an independent review.

Stymiest said St. Tammany Parish government will receive PSA-Dewberry’s report in several weeks and will then begin its analysis.  She said the parish will make available to the media the sections of the report which do not compromise jail security.

Following the completion of the review, Davis has pledged to request the Parish Council take whatever actions are necessary to ensure the St. Tammany Jail is secure. Stymiest said when the jail was built 10 years ago it was “the best that could be built.”