THE MINIMUM SECURITY JAIL
The Minimum Security Jail or M.S.J. as it is called will house up to ninety-six non-violent, misdemeanant, first time offenders as well as non-violent F4 and F5 felons. This concept in Adult Detention Facilities is relatively new. It consists of a dormitory type environment that will support many of the "work release" inmates. The "Work Release" Program is another giant leap forward in allowing incarcerated individuals to continue support of their families, reduce fines and costs, and maintain an element of dignity while they pay their own way under a type of supervised honor system.

THE FULL SERVICE JAIL/F.S.J
The Full Service Jail (F.S.J.), which is the "tower" section of the new facility, will house the same types of individuals that the old jail has housed since 1966.

The Trumbull County Adult Justice Center does not have the typical bars that you might associate with a "jail type" environment. Every cell has specially made security windows that will provide a minimum of forty lumens of light to each desk area.

The foresight of the Trumbull County Adult Justice Center planners has equiped each area, or (pod) of cells, with several specially designed cells to better meet the needs of handicapped individuals.

Each cell is designed to house only one inmate. This important fact will eliminate the possibility of coercion within the cell areas and provide a more secure environment for all officers, staff and other inamtes.

GENERAL INFORMATION
The trumbull County Adult Justice Center is equiped with the lastest computer technology. Inmates incarcerated in the new facility will be monitored in several ways. Computerized identification wrist bands with bar codes will be used to scan accurate inmate information for positive identification at all times. The bar codes on the wrist bands once scanned will not only provide instant inmate information but will confirm participation in any of the programs that will be adopted by the new Trumbull County Adult Justice Center.

There are over one hundred twenty nine video surveillance cameras strategically placed around the outside and throughout the inside of the facility. These will be used to constantly monitor the outside fenced in perimeter of the facility as well as monitor all inmate traffic when moving throughout the inside perimeter of the jail.

In addition to the newly established "Work Release" Program the Trumbull County Adult Justice Center will provide other State Certified Programs in an attempt to educate and rehabilitate inmate residents. It is with extreme hope and optimism that these programs will aid the community and cut down on recidivism. Some of the programs that will be implemented include, G.E.D. Classes, AA and NA Group Meetings, Church Services, Bible Study, and Mental Health.

The Trumbull County Adult Justice Center is a twenty-four hour facility that in addition to administration, administrative assistants and the warden, employs five assistant wardens and sixty-four well trained, state certified correction officers.

FACTS FACTS AND MORE FACTS
The design phase of the jail project started in January 1994:

The History of Trumbull County's Jail
When Trumbull County was first organized in 1800, John Kinsman, Turhand Kirtland, and Calvin Austin were appointed to find a "proper place for a temporary jail". On August 27, 1800, the committee reported that the room in the southwest corner of the home of Ephriam Quinby (at Main and South Street) was acceptable. The court of Quarter Sessions approved the choice.

In March 1801, a plan for a jail building was adopted. It called for a building 30 by 22 feet wide with two rooms - one for criminals and one for debtors. The oak log walls were to be 15 inches thick with hewn oak floor timbers of the same thickness and a roof of long oak shingles. Simon Perkins was appointed to supervise the building of this jail which was destroyed by fire in 1804. A log and frame hotel on Market Street opposite the public square provided a first floor room as a temporary jail.

A new jail was to be built north of the courthouse on High Street. On November 23, 1815, County Commissioners Lyman Potter of Bristol, William Bushnell of Hartford, and John H. Patch of Canfield purchased for $110 part of Lot 42 in the "Warren Town Plat".

On June 4, 1822, the County Commissioners, Martin Smith of Vernon, Benajah Austin of Warren, and William Ripley of Ellsworth, hired Seth Thompson of Hartford to build a new brick jail building on High Street for $2,965 to be "set on the center of said lot east and west and the front of the building to be 100 feet north of the highway or Common". In 1823, Benajah Austin was appointed to superintend the construction. The escape of prisoners from the old jail in August 1824 expedited construction of the new building. According to commissioners' records, the cells, outside door to the prison space, cellar door and stairs, and a room in the front part were to be finished first so that a family could move in if it became necessary in order to occupy the prison as a place of confinement before the other part of the building was finished. On December 8, 1824, the jail was reported finished. Changes in the course of construction had added an additional $381.17 to the cost of the jail.

The jail was 17 by 28 feet with a guard room, kitchen, dining room and, adjoining, was a double row of four cells each 7 by 9 feet in size. Each cell was furnished with an iron frame cot, a wash basin, and toilet facility. Extensive use of iron and steel in the jail construction made it "saw and file proof". Levers at the corridor entrance controlled the opening and locking of the cells "without approaching the entrance".

The second floor "apartments" were arranged the same with the exception of a female prison, 12 by 17 feet in size, and a hospital room of equal dimensions. Water tanks were built into the third floor space. The building throughout was supplied with hot and cold water, bathtubs, gas, etc., "everything requisite....to the comfort or convenience of the inmates", according to the Western Reserve Chronicle of September 8, 1872.

This county jail at 150 High Street was used until the completion and occupancy of the County Administration Building Complex in the 1960's.

East of the jail lot was the former church site of Central Christian Church dating back to 1820 when Ephriam Quinby deeded this lot to the First Baptist Church of Warren. The building was demolished by the county to create a parking lot, which was in use until the work began on the construction of the newest Trumbull County Jail.

Above research provided by Wendell F. Lauth