This 318,000-square-foot Yaphank Correctional Facility project includes the main building, male detention center, and an administrative building. Built next to the existing facility, the main building is a one-story structural steel and masonry building and includes areas for booking, visitation, female housing, healthcare, and mechanical rooms. The male detention center is a 2-story structural steel building, consisting of pre-fabricated concrete cells with a capacity to hold 360 prisoners. The administrative building consists of an interior fit-out of the existing structure on the site. All 3 buildings on the site have slab-on-grade foundations.

Work began on the facility in January 2009 and concluded in March 2012. EW Howell Construction Group’s Project Manager on the project was responsible for overseeing operational aspects of the field and office teams, ensuring project compliance with company policies, providing schedule updates, keeping the project on track with schedule milestones, and monitoring the project’s final considerations.

The Yaphank Correctional Facility required approximately 500,000 square feet of masonry, coupled with mortar, rebar, backup block in some areas and three-course-thick security walls in certain sections. In corrections projects, security-focused features are part of the territory. It was vital that EW Howell worked with the corrections officers to understand their needs and how the finished facility had to operate.

One of the facility’s most interesting features is its direct-supervision security system. With state-of-the-art security equipment, the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office can effectively monitor and control the inmate population with minimal staff.

Designed by Wiedersum Associates Architects, this $130 million project is the largest in size and scope for Suffolk County since the 1970s.