Boone County Sheriff's Office shifts operations for jail expansion

Mar. 9—The Boone County Sheriff's Office is digging in for the long haul as excavation begins at the site of what will be the new Boone County Justice Center in Lebanon.

Some services, like paying bond, will be performed from temporary locales. And the public may not like the inconvenience, but it won't last forever.

The $60 million overhaul and expansion project is expected to take two years and includes more jail cells, added space for mental health and educational services for inmates, and offices for the Boone County Coroner and Community Corrections.

Because the project is part new construction and part renovation, divisions housed there will have to move over or out as the project progresses.

Administrative offices, investigators, and parts of the corrections operation are the first and must be out of the jail altogether by April 3. Administrative services, such as fingerprinting for concealed carry permits, are still available at the jail until further notice. The BCSO website and app will have an updated list of where each division may be found, with maps and phone numbers.

"The situation is very fluid," Boone County Sheriff's Detective Morganne Carpenter said.

Administrative and any corrections services that move will be housed in a double-wide trailer on the parking lot of the Boone County 4-H Fairgrounds, south of the jail. Detectives will move to the single trailer that is also parked there.

The fairgrounds is accessed from Indianapolis Avenue on a drive just south of the jail entrance.

Once work begins, a gate will block the public and most staff from entering the jail property, and signs posted will provide directions for where to find services.

Renovation on the building has not yet begun, "but there is digging going on out there," Carpenter said.