Adams County Jail still overcoming setbacks months after ribbon cutting
HASTINGS, Neb. – Opening delays for the Adams County Jail are causing frustrations for people involved in the years-long project, but there is an end in sight.
The Adams County Justice Center in Hastings cut the ribbon on their new facility back on April 16.
New benefits of the jail include space for 154 inmates, which is over 100 more than the current facility.
The Adams County Sheriff's office says the new jail will save county taxpayers money, since they can house more inmates, including women.
Almost three months later, the jail is still experiencing setbacks with multiple problems across the entire building, and hasn't allowed inmates to move to the new location.
According to jail staff, door locks across the jail experienced major malfunctions causing doors to be shown as closed when they were actually open.
"I've even had that issue when working on a door situation, (I) rebooted one part of the building and it affected another that was totally unexpected," said Adams County Commissioner Michael Stromer. "Even I'm still learning what's going on out here, and I'm the one who's training everybody."
That hurdle has since been cleared, but according to county commissioners, weather is the latest issue that's causing problems at the jail.
"We are the lightning rod right now out here, and we've taken some big lightning strikes," said Stromer. "We've had some issues with our rooftop units, and we're currently in fact testing a couple of those right now."
Commissioner Stromer says the door locks were the biggest issue, and it's just the small things standing in the way now, including training staff.
He's hoping to receive an inspection from the state Jail Standards Commission sometime next week, and if all goes to plan, the opening date could be as soon as the end of the month.