Governor DeWine Announced $10.1 Million Awarded for Construction of a New Coshocton County Jail

COSHOCTON, Ohio- It was a rainy afternoon today outside the Coshocton County Courthouse where Governor Mike DeWine announced that $10.1 million state dollars have been granted to Coshocton County Sheriff’s Office to partially fund a $28 million project to construct a new prison facility for the county. 

The funds are a part of Senate Bill 310 which passed and was signed into law by Republican Governor Mike DeWine this past December. 

The bill included $50 million in grant money which has been allotted to five different counties in Ohio and the Southeast Ohio Center Regional Jail, with Coshocton County receiving a little more than one fifth of the total sum.

The decision process for awarding the grants was primarily based on where the state’s money would make the most impact to improve the conditions and operations in our state’s worst jails.

“What we tried to do is focus on -frankly- the jails that were in the worst shape, and where it was really imperative for something to be done. And we looked at the counties and also weighed in the county’s ability to come up with the money themselves,” Mike DeWine, governor of Ohio stated.

Coshocton County’s jail was built almost 50 years ago, before the minimum prison standards were set by the state government. This has caused the price tag for a new prison to balloon, and has also left older prisons unable to be renovated to modern standards. 

The new jail in Coshocton County will double the square footage of the old prison from 14,000 sqft to 40,000 sqft -which allows the county to house 126 prisoners. This number of beds is well above what the county needs at the moment. This overshooting of prison bed spaces is to accommodate future growth of the county as the Pittsburgh-Columbus corridor nears completion.

The new jail facility will also have space for life enrichment, rehabilitation, and education as well -something the current jail is unable to provide. 

Fortunately, the grant money will also alleviate a huge financial burden off the county’s tax payers.

“It takes the amount of years to pay off the bond, cuts it almost in half. We now have received more than 50% of the estimated $28 million to build this facility. That’s huge. With the commissioners designating the sale of the property, and with this award today, it’s a win. It’s a win for our community, our residents, for those visiting our community,” James Crawford, Coshocton County Sheriff said.

Voters in Coshocton County will be able to vote on a tax-levy to help fund the rest of the jail’s costs. If the initiative doesn’t pass, the fate of the new jail is jeopardized, but sheriff Crawford is expecting the 0.5% sales tax levy to pass and asks all Coshocton resident’s to vote ‘yes’. 

For now, with the today’s great news from the governor’s office, sheriff Crawford said that not even the weather could rain on Coshocton’s ‘parade’ today.