APRIL FOOL: County takes direction toward corrections

To be clear, there will be books on the second floor of the Lakewood Ranch Library.

But the patrons might be different than local residents expected.

Uses by the county's corrections department have been announced as the county builds out the 25,000-square-foot second floor of the library, which was left blank after original construction.

In February, the county announced that it was just starting to get together a plan for the second floor and suggested a $6.9 million buildout. The library itself cost $17,677,542 and was opened Jan. 12, 2024. Library enthusiasts were hoping for an extension of the library and its resources.

The thought in February was that the process would go into late 2025 before any decisions were made, but staff members decided the county's continued growth, an ailing financial resources position as much-need infrastructure is delayed for lack of funds, and a growing lack of space for an expanding corrections department, led to the rushed decision.

The second floor will now host the county's parole department, four jail cells to house those arrested who must be incarcerated before being shipped to the main jail downtown, and a "library" to provide books for ex-cons and parolees.

The U.S. Marshals Service also will lease about a third of the floor to run its regional Witness Security Program.

"It was a surprising change of direction for the facility," said Charlotte Esse-Webb of the county's corrections department. "But the buck has to stop somewhere and we simply don't have the funds to build what we need for our department. Some kind of public service use always was intended for the second floor, and this, if you look at it, fits that intended use."

Esse-Webb said one of the defining factors in the decision was the library's exterior stairways, which allow access of the second floor without needing to enter the first floor.

"If a deputy needs to transport a prisoner from one of the second-floor cells to downtown, they won't need to walk through the patrons on the first flood. We were very concerned with the thought of leading prisoners in handcuffs past children reading Dr. Seuss."

The Witness Security Program was a key to the decision to move forward. First was the financial aspect in which federal government funds will pay for 50% of the buildout. Then, by nature, the Witness Security Program operates very quietly behind the scenes.

"You are not going to know we are there," said Capt. Morgan Rumfield. "We have to operate in secrecy because our witnesses must be anonymous. It's the perfect setting for us as well. Who would think to look for these people on top of a library?"

Esse-Webb said the parole department will operate in a similar fashion.

"Most of what we do is administrative work," she said. "If we do get someone who has violated their conditions, they can be contained in one of the cells and shipped out. We are building on to one of the stairwells a receiving area where police cars can pull into, like a shipping dock, load up, and be gone."

As an olive branch to the community, the county specified that 1,200 square feet would be a reading library for those in the parole system. A public committee will be formed to select appropriate reading.

Construction is expected to begin in July.