Groundbreaking for New Land O' Lakes Detention Center Addition
 An artist's rendition of the completed building. |
Pasco Sheriff Bob White welcomed guests to the groundbreaking ceremony for an addition to the Land O' Lakes Detention Center on May 9. The Detention Center is located at 20101 Central Boulevard, about a mile south of State Road 52 on U.S. Highway 41.
Guests included two county commissioners, a county judge, PSO detention deputies, and county facility personnel.
Upon completion, the new addition will be three stories high, and provide 96,000 square feet for 768 inmate beds. There is expected to be an additional 88 new staff members hired to work in the facility, including detention deputies, nurses and control room operators. Completion of the project is expected by summer 2009.
Expansion of the present facility is needed as the inmate population has been in an overcrowded capacity for years, sometimes as high as 30 percent. The average daily population for Pasco County's two detention centers for 2007 was 1,271 inmates, and the rated bed capacity was for only 1,007 inmates.
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Sheriff White answers questions from the news media about the problem of overcrowding in the current facility. |
Sheriff White joins county commissioners, detention deputies, construction supervisors, and law enforcement officials for the ceremonial groundbreaking. |
Photos by Forensics Investigator Nancy Sulinski