Fremont County Jail upgraded after a two-year building process

ST. ANTHONY, Idaho (KIFI)-After over forty years, the Fremont County Sheriff's Office now has a new jail facility.

The new jail took two years to build, and the facility has more space which includes up-to-date technology.

Fremont County Sheriff Deputy Lieutenant Miller shared how this new space will help the Sheriff's office.

"Our security is upgraded as well, from our control panels to our doors to every aspect of technology where we're going to like Electronic tablets. So it minimizes inmate movement and security issues," Lieutenant Miller said.

One of the biggest upgrades for the Fremont County Jail is the kitchen. Pictured above are two different pictures are from the old jail.

Pictured below is an image from the new kitchen.

Lieutenant Miller shares why this is significant.

"We now have a kitchen that we can serve prepared meals in versus our famous frozen Pot Pies and our frozen TV dinners," Miller said.

Miller adds that the facility also has upgraded the space in the holding cells, and pods for the inmates.

On Saturday, the Sheriff's Office lead an open house tour of the facility.

I asked visitors to the new jail what they thought of the facility.

"I think it's great. And I think the money was used in great ways," Macy Smith said.

"It's coming with more and more population, more people moving in and it's going to be needed. And where we would have to house people out of state and out of the county, this here will help keep everybody here," John Scafe said.

"It was really surprising. I loved, like, knowing every part of it, how they came in, how they had to check all of their stuff and then the holding cells and then going into the pods and just seeing where they stay and where they live. And that it was really interesting to be a part of that," Evelyn Marchant said.

They were also impressed by the size of the spaces and the technology involved.

"The control room is amazing. So high tech and just I love that the staff can know exactly what's going on throughout the whole jail," Marchant said.

"Just the space that they used and what they used to space for. And I think it'll be a good addition," Smith said.

"I think it going to be a really nice facility for holding people in there, rehabilitating people for young inmates and things like that. Looks like they've got to put a lot of thought into it," Scafe said.

Lieutenant Miller also shares the new jail should be able to house a little over 40 inmates.

The age of the old jail, as well as a growing population, added to the need for the new jail facility. Miller also shares that they will be able to contract out space to house inmates from across the state allowing them to help pay for the facility.

"This will be primarily funded by the state of Idaho. We're going to fill the beds with state inmates and they pay for those beds. So we have enough state inmates in these beds that will be taking care of that really good," Miller said.

He says the Sheriff's Office is thrilled with how the facility turned out.