GRAEF-USA Inc.

The Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility

In 1997, overcrowding throughout the state prison system resulted in probation and parole violators being detained in county jails instead of state facilities. It was also the year in which the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that crowded county jail facilities were within their legal rights to refuse the state’s probation and parole overflow. These two circumstances resulted in Wisconsin creating an alternative facility to alleviate overcrowding problems.

The Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility is that alternative. Built to house parolees who do not meet the conditions of their release, the probation and parole holding facility is one of the newest and smartest facility-types on the correctional landscape. The 1048-bed detention center provides a model for state correctional departments whose parole violators are clogging county jails.

GRAEF was chosen by the state as the structural consultant for the housing units and support facilities design. The complex includes twelve dormitory-style housing units, support facilities, indoor and outdoor exercise facilities, and a food service area that provides food services to all county facilities. The complex also includes elevated and underground walkways, mechanical penthouses, a guard tower, and a sallyport. Two additional housing floors, integrated into designs for future expansion, were made part of the original structure. The construction schedule dictated a demanding time frame to complete construction documents, and interdisciplinary coordination played a critical role in the project’s success.

In addition to using many features that serve as models of successful design, the completed structure met a primary aesthetic design challenge – blending the facility into the Milwaukee skyline. The community wanted the facility to look like an office tower instead of a detention building. Key to achieving this goal, the facility features large windows instead of the small slits common to urban jails. The facility also includes 57 video-visitation booths, victim-sensitive hearing rooms for the revocation of probation and parole, and medical services on each floor. A community corrections component comes in the form of 210 beds dedicated to inmates incarcerated for drug and/or alcohol treatment. Finally, located kitty-corner from the Milwaukee County Jail, the facility is a quick ride between sallyports, accomplishing its mission to alleviate crowding in Milwaukee County’s jail and others throughout the state.
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LOCATION Milwaukee, WI