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Info and Photo Gallery: GCSD invites citizens to tour the expanded Greene County Jail Thursday evening

When a limestone plaque set into the northeast corner of the new building is completed, it will feature the Indiana State Seal in the middle of a star with the words “Greene County, Indiana.”

When a limestone plaque set into the northeast corner of the new building is completed, it will feature the Indiana State Seal in the middle of a star with the words “Greene County, Indiana.”

Inmates in the Greene County Jail will move into a new state-of-the-art facility sometime after the first of June but before that happens, Greene County’s citizens will get a chance to walk through and inspect the new building. The public is invited to tour the new jail this Thursday evening, May 23, from 5-7 p.m.

This will be the only opportunity for citizens to walk through every area of the building and get a close look at the new booking area with holding cells, isolation cells and padded cells, the minimum security dormitories, the dayrooms and cells for medium and maximum security inmates, the utility areas behind the scenes, the sally port/garage area, the inmate recreation area and the tower where jailers can see into every inmate area and monitor over 100 video surveillance cameras.

Greene County Sheriff Mike Hasler said he expects inmates will be moved from the current jail into the new facility in early June.  Once the inmates start moving in, the new building will be off limits to the general public.

Visitors of all physical abilities will be welcome to take the tour. The building is handicap accessible with the exception of the tower. There is no elevator. Visitors will walk up a set of stairs to enter the tower area, but all other areas of the building are accessible to those with limited mobility or using a walker or wheelchair. In fact, the building is equipped to house inmates with physical limitations including those in wheelchairs.

The new building is located directly to the east of the older building and construction is underway to complete a corridor between the two buildings.

Parking for visitors during the tour is available on the north side of both buildings. There is one new parking lot on the north side of the new building. If it is full, other parking areas are close by. Sheriff’s department personnel will be around to direct visitors into the building.

Visitors will enter through the regular door or overhead door into the sally port where they will be greeted by someone from the sheriff’s department to start their tour.

Greene County Sheriff Mike Hasler, Chief Deputy George Dallaire and other officers and staff will conduct the tours and answer questions.

It’s a tour you won’t want to miss. A photo gallery posted below shows part of what will be seen on the tour but there’s more and GCSD personnel will be answering questions and pointing out more details along the way.

According to Chief Deputy George Dallaire, when the new building is completed, it will be the most technically advanced jail in the state.

A tour given last week by Dallaire and Sheriff Hasler to Kermit and Anna Rochelle of GreeneStreets left little doubt, this is an impressive facility for Greene County.

In short, Sheriff Hasler said, “This is not your grandfather’s jail.”

Photo Gallery: ‘This is not your grandfather’s jail”

Photo credit: All photos were taken by Kermit Rochelle or Anna Rochelle of GreeneStreets