KAI, DLR and Dunn Complete Women’s Prison

Female inmates have begun moving into the new state-of-the-art Chillicothe Correctional Center (CCC), designed by the design-build team of KAI Design & Build of St. Louis, Mo.; DLR Group of Overland Park, KS; and JE Dunn Construction Company of Kansas City, MO.

The City of Chillicothe, which claims to be the “Home of Sliced Bread,” made tremendous efforts to ensure that the prison, and its jobs, stayed in the community. The State of Missouri issued $120 million million dollars to keep the prison there.

The Missouri Department of Corrections is hiring 175 additional corrections officers for the new facility, bringing its full-time employees to 560, with an annual payroll of $15.7 million.   The new $120 million prison, the largest design-build project undertaken by the State of Missouri, will provide expanded services to female offenders in substance abuse treatment, academic education and re-entry services.

The facility, which replaces an outdated prison constructed in 1887, will also improve safety and security for the public, staff and offenders. Non-conventional materials, such as vinyl tile and carpet, as well as ceramic tile in the showers create a softer environment for the female inmates. Additional amenities include a beauty shop, religious center, library, bakery, cosmetology lab, gymnasium and greenhouse.  

CCC, a 430,000-square-foot facility, consists of five butterfly-shaped housing units with future plans to add an additional housing unit. The five units have the capacity to hold a total of 1,636 inmates, more than triple the old institution’s operating capacity of 525. According to the Missouri Department of Corrections, Missouri’s female prison population has increased by 150 percent during the past 10 years.  

“DLR Group is passionate about designing facilities that keep our communities safe,” said Andy Anderson, principal with DLR Group. “Our goal is to deliver functional buildings that are both environmentally friendly and responsive to users’ needs."

A unique feature of the facility is the design of its central plant, which houses the HVAC equipment. To address the state’s desire for an energy efficient system, KAI designed the state-of-the-art plant to include high-efficiency boilers and HVAC controls. The central utility loop was also designed 12 to 16 feet above grade, rather than underground. This type of design allows problems to be identified quickly and repairs to be made easily. The design also utilizes the building structures to support the loop, which helped to save on insulation and support for the main loop.  

“The main power plant, refrigeration, boiler plant and maintenance area was designed outside the secured perimeter of the facility and is totally self-sufficient,” said KAI Project Architect Dwight Wyatt. “The facility has its own emergency electrical generator should the power go out. We also designed the buildings’ roofs with limited equipment or clutter on top of them, to minimize areas where people may try to hide. When designing a correctional facility, safety and security, of course, is always critical.”

There are also 403 security cameras located throughout the campus. Another unique feature of the facility is its precast concrete, bearing-wall construction. Use of the pre-cast materials allowed the facility to be designed and built in less than two years, rather than the average estimated three years to complete.

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