The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has approved $7.7 million recovery grant to the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff’s Office for the construction of a administration building in Orleans, in the US state of Louisiana.
The new four-storey, 70,217 square feet administration building consolidates various pre-storm facilities into one, including staff housing, a studio, internal affairs and bail bonds information office.Hurricane Katrina has damaged the local jail system, commonly known as the Templeman facilities, as well as devastated an original 1960’s building, known as ‘the fisk building’.
With FEMA’s recent approval, funds from these damaged facilities and contents will be applied for the construction of administration building, which will be attached and share common walls with a larger consolidation project currently under review by FEMA.The larger consolidation project proposes a new 370,000 square feet facility for inmate housing, Templeman 3 and 4, and an intake processing centre. The new facility’s design includes enough beds for 1,438 inmates, which is the same bed count capabilities that existed pre-Katrina.
When FEMA approves projects through its supplemental Public Assistance grant, the funds are made available to the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Preparedness, who disburses them to the applicant for eligible work completed