Genesee County Jail

Genesee County residents who are curious about the new Genesee County Jail and would like to see it inside for themselves before it starts holding inmates will get their chance on Saturday.

Sheriff William Sheron has announced an open house that day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The new jail is located at 3839 West Main Street Road, Batavia -- basically to the east of and between the Animal Shelter County Building #2.

Previously:

• County dedicates new jail that officials expect to serve community for at least a century
• Photos: Tour of the new Genesee County Jail

Last month, Genesee County experienced a total solar eclipse, a once-in-a-lifetime event for many.

On Friday, Sheriff William Sheron said it was a once-in-a-lifetime event: the dedication of a new county jail.

The jail is expected to be the county's lone place of inmate incarceration for at least 10 decades.

"We'll never see one of these built again, nor do we want to," Sheron said.

The new jail's construction was a long journey, Sheron said, but a necessary one.  The new facility will serve the community better, providing greater opportunities to help offenders improve their lives and keep corrections officers safer.

"Today marks a significant milestone in our county's journey towards justice and rehabilitation," Sheron said. "It's with great pride and humility that we gather here to dedicate the new Genesee County Jail. This facility is not just a testament to our commitment to public safety but also a symbol of our unwavering dedication to accountability, rehabilitation and hope."

See also: Photos: Tour of the new Genesee County Jail

Sheron noted that incarceration is not the ultimate goal of local law enforcement. 

"Rather, it's a means to an end, an opportunity for individuals to reflect on their actions, take accountability for their actions and their mistakes and embark on a path towards positive change," Sheron said.

To that end, the new jail will offer better access to mental health assistance, educational opportunities, and access to counseling.  Inmates will have access to resources and programs aimed at addressing the root causes of their behavior with the hope of guiding them toward a more productive future.

"Accountability is the heart of the justice system," Sheron said. "It's about holding individuals responsible for their actions and also providing them with the support and the tools they need to reintegrate into our society as productive and law-abiding citizens."

Allen Riley, chairman of the state's Commission of Corrections, which mandated that the county build a new jail to replace its deteriorating, aging facility Main Street in Batavia, which was becoming costly to maintain, he said, praised the new facility.

"It will provide greater space for enhanced educational opportunities for the incarcerated population, which will provide opportunities for advancement and a chance to become a productive member of society upon their release and reduce recidivism rates here in Genesee County," he said.

The 184-bed facility was built at a cost of $70 million. The jail is divided into four units. To start, only three units will house inmates: two males and one female. It's the first time Genesee County will house its own female inmates.

Assistant Jail Superintendent Jeff Searls told visitors during a guided tour that he anticipates opportunities to house inmates from other counties, especially for a couple of neighboring counties that are just starting the process of building new jails in their communities and providing custodial care for people being held for the U.S. Marshall's and Homeland Security. Holding inmates for other jurisdictions will generate revenue for the county, which will help offset the jail's cost.

County Manager Matt Landers noted that the jail was built during challenging times.  Project planning began in 2017 and by the time the county was ready to begin construction, the world was hit by a pandemic, then rising interest rates, followed by inflation, along with bail reform.

"At one point, I was wondering if we're building this jail too small," Landers said. "If you go back to 2019, we had 140 individuals in the care of Genesee County Sheriff's Office that would essentially be full today. Then, within one year, the numbers dropped from the pandemic and from the bail reform. And we weren't quite sure. So, we commissioned a second jail-needs study. And the results of that study were basically to keep the same number we had before. And now here we are today with, I would say, an appropriate size jail facility for the next 100 years."

Jeffrey Searls has amassed a career so wide and varied that perhaps even he has underestimated just how much, such as when his wife Kristie asked him how many challenge coins he had collected.

A former deputy field office director for the U.S. Immigration Department who has also been part of a security detail for a former president and is now deputy superintendent of Genesee County Jail, Searls modestly told her about 15 or 20. Challenge coins are traded with others in the field and often in the military, similar to business cards, only more aesthetically pleasing and collector-worthy.

She took hold of the collection of colorful coins — more like dozens plural  — and lined them up in rows on a wooden flag that decorates his office at the new Genesee County Jail. A minor detail to some, though they speak to the nearly two dozen years of work both out in the criminal justice field and in administration. 

“And so she bought me that, and I had more coins. So then I had to get another one. Then, over time, they filled up; it was one of those things I just kind of threw them in there and didn't pay attention,” Searls said during an interview at his office in the new jail. “And then she's like, you know, they’re kind of nice, you should display them. I’m like, yeah, you're right. I really had no idea how many I had then because I've just thrown them in that basket over the years. And I'm like, wow, I’d say quite a few. So it's kind of a neat little collection.”

Admittedly, Searls is not akin to clutter, so all the shiny newness aside, his office will likely remain as orderly as it was on this day, with few but meaningful pieces of decor on the walls and bookshelves, including the coins flags, a wooden flag-themed Special Response Team plaque, two buffalo — the animal, not city —  items and a group police photo. 

He has worked at other jobs prior to immigration, he said, including a stint at CY Farms “way back when,” and as a probation officer in 1997, but since 2000, his criminal justice/law enforcement career has taken off.

“I was eligible to retire and was looking for other after-retirement jobs, so this situation kind of fell in my lap, really. I had experience running the Detention Center for Immigration on Federal Drive, and it was just the right timing. So I applied, interviewed, and got selected,” he said.

At first blush, he said he enjoyed being an officer where the bulk of the action outweighed the administration side of things; however, after more contemplation, he revised that response.

“I did like being an officer, but I also enjoy being an administrator as well. I like being able to lead others and providing the tools they need to help them succeed in reaching their goals,” Searls said. “I also enjoy helping to take a vision and turning it into reality. Similar to the new jail project that started out as a conversation, to plans on paper, to construction, then ultimately it will be a fully operational facility.”

Ever since he took a criminal justice course in BOCES, Searls, who grew up in Elba, “really liked it,” he said and leaned toward becoming a cop or a fireman to help his community. 

“I always wanted to make a difference,” he said. 

A resident of Batavia for the last 18 years, he began as a detention enforcement officer—similar to a corrections officer, he said—and then moved up the supervisory ranks. In 2017, he became the facility director until 2022, when he was promoted to deputy field office director.

“I was in charge of the upper 47 counties of New York State for federal immigration. So from all the way from Erie, Pennsylvania border all the way up to Champlain and down to just north of Hudson County, Dutchess County, so the Albany area,” he said. “I was deputy field office director, so I was second in charge of the state for the agency. But in that role I'm detailed quite often. So I was detailed to Washington, D.C. and played different roles there. So I was in charge of fugitive operations, which is like going out and finding people like what the marshals would do, looking for immigration fugitives. 

“I was in charge. I was overseas,  I oversaw it nationally for a six months detail. And then also, I did another headquarters detail where I worked at the Southwest border Coordination Center. That was in conjunction with Customs and Border Protection, border patrol, and with the influx of migrants, in the last few years, worked together with a multi agency task force to try to address that,” he said. “So as the deputy national incident commander, working federally, I had to go all over the place, realistically. I did multiple stints on the southern border, mostly in Texas and Louisiana as well. Short-term details from 30 to 60 days, but I also was acting facility or acting field office director for Philadelphia for four months. So I was in charge of Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia.”

His boss was ICE headquarters in Washington, D.C., and the job meant being team leader with a SWAT team, emergency response for hurricanes in New Orleans in 2008, part of a large-scale security team for President-elect Barack Obama during his transition in Chicago, and even having to remove high-risk individuals from the United States. One thing he hasn’t done when it comes to immigration is work directly along the southern border, namely Mexico.

Since 2017, he has predominantly been in administration, running the Buffalo immigration office.

“I loved the field action, but I like teaching the younger guys. When you work the field, it’s very early morning and very late nights,” he said. “Being an administrator, some of the enjoyable aspects of it were completing projects. And similar to the new jail here, being able to get it off the ground. Most of those projects that we did were smaller in scale, but to start from scratch and get them running was very exciting, too; not along the lines of criminal justice work, but I did enjoy that, having seen the fruits of your labor.”

As deputy jail superintendent since December 2023, Searls knows all about seeing projects come to fruition. The $70 million facility is set to open for an invitation-only mingle and dedication on Friday after a year of groundbreaking, construction, change orders, infrastructure, training, and finishing touches at the Route 5 site. 

Searls is deputy to Jail Superintendent Bill Zipfel. 

“My duties since I started have been to do everything to transition for us to move from the old jail to the new jail so he's able to focus on the day-to-day operations of the current jail. And to try to open a new place is a lot for one person to be in charge of, so the sheriff and the superintendent have wanted me to coordinate things here, so I've been a go-between with contractors, other vendors that are putting our security systems in and keys and doors and every little thing that goes along with construction, and also working with the commissioner of corrections of a transition team that we work with, which is four correction officers that work for us, that we have pulled from the schedule and they work here daily,” he said. “And they have worked directly with the commissioner of corrections on new policies and procedures, mainly due to the physical plan of the facility. 

"A lot of our procedures are going to be completely different here. We've been working with them developing the new policies and procedures and putting together a training program for our officers because we're going to have to know how to handle the different scenarios," he said. "Many of our officers are very experienced; however, they just have a new place and a different way of going about things. We're going to have to work through it, just how it's going to look here.” 

An example of such policies is the inmate grievance process. Searls said inmates receive a tablet that they can use for music, TV and a phone. They can also list their grievances on the tablet as an electronic log. 

“And so they've reviewed that and tried to tweak it to make it better now with technology. We have tablets here; we have different technological tools. But ultimately, if you know an inmate has a grievance, they can always say it in person, put it right down on a piece of paper, or do it through the tablet. So helping us just make sure all of our policies are in line to meet the standards that are in place,” he said. “Many, many standards have had to adjust because of technology, the changes in it. A lot of old procedures that were listed on paper had to be now with the technological age. 

"If you can use a tablet, and email, is it necessary to print all that paper out? So adjusting policies like that, there are ways or other things that always in the past had to be on paper, paper logs, now we can go with more electronic logs," he said. "So that’s been very helpful. And, obviously, in the long run, a cost savings to the county.”

The new jail provides opportunities for more outdoor recreation and larger day rooms to relax and watch TV, he said. There are some work positions in the kitchen and laundry areas, and he would like to see more work programs be developed in the future. 

Genesee County Animal Shelter is adjacent to the jail, and there are potential opportunities for inmates to help out by walking dogs or other duties, he said, but that type of program has yet to be established. 

There will be one head cook that’s a county employee and two part-time cook jobs will go to inmates that don’t have a lot of violence in their records, he said. 

Other staff includes four part-time nurses who cover shifts seven days a week and a physician who comes in two days a week. About 46 corrections officers have been hired, with four more needed to make it the 50 full-time required, plus six full-time senior corrections officers.

Friday's private dedication and tour is something to look forward to for all involved, he said.

“This is a big deal and something people should be proud of,” he said. “We’re excited to get in here, and I’m very proud to be part of it.”

The jail’s capacity is 184 inmates—148 men and 36 women—and they are expected to be housed in June. Once the males are situated in the current jail, the females will be brought in from outlying facilities in Orleans, Wyoming and Monroe counties, he said.

Once the new jail is established and flowing, Searls will focus on assisting Zipfel with daily tasks, including performance evaluations and policy reviews.

“We may have to change a few things and continue the process with that day to day,” he said. “Initially, just getting used to the space and the distance to travel from if there is an incident, that emergency incident that we need to respond to right away, there's a greater distance to travel to, but overall greater distance to travel to, by the COs to get to. So if there was a fight or medical emergency or something they had to respond to, there's a little bit greater distance. For the most part, it's just one floor, except in the housing unit, there are two floors, but it is very easy to maneuver through the facility. But it's just a greater distance.

“Overall safety concerns, the design of the facility keeps you safe. It is different than our current jail in the way it's set up there, in small, very small groups, small areas, you will have the potential for 40 people together in an open area. So there's the potential that you have one CO working with those 40 guys, you're outnumbered,”  he said. “However, generally in my past, I have not had issues with that. It's just all about communication, effective communication just between the COs, jail management, and the inmates, and effective communication usually handles any disturbance.”

There won’t be any changes to officers being armed and the use of force policies, he said, and having one officer dealing with larger groups of people is actually “a very effective and economical way of handling the inmate population.”

“Ultimately, the big key is effective communication, just being able to talk to people and respectfully, that's the main thing," he said. "But overall, the bigger the facility the potential of larger numbers. Obviously, we'll bring in the females, so that's gonna bump up our numbers on average, lately, 15 to 20 at the most, right there. We've been housing females out forever to other county jails, and as other local jails may be going through the same process, they may ask for the same type of favor."

"So I'm sure in the future, we may be housing other counties’ inmates maybe short term if they have a building project. And then there's the possibility of potentially housing federal inmates if the need arises, whether it's U.S. Marshal inmates or immigration inmates, that's open for discussion. There's a lot of moving parts with those as far as establishing a memorandum of understanding and a contract. And they have a different auditing process and things like that. So that's open for discussion down the road," he said. "Ultimately, we initially want to get open, take care of ourselves, make sure we're good to go and then see about eventually being able to utilize the full facility."

Searls and wife Kristie, a teacher at Jackson Primary School, have a son Shawn, who’s in his junior year at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and two golden retrievers, Bentley and Dunkin. 

Diane Cox of Batavia seemed to always know her life was headed into nursing, though it was a crooked path by way of working in clerical and as a candy striper and pursuing health education before becoming a registered and faith community nurse, she says.

Cox, who grew up in Albion the daughter and first-generation college student of what she calls a multicultural household — a Polish dad and American Indian mom — obtained her master’s in health education before someone suggested that she go into nursing.

“I wanted to go into health education because I wanted to work with people who really want to make a behavior modification change, and their decision to physically make some changes emotionally, make some changes socially, make some changes spiritually, make some changes in their life, to have a complete model of overall health and wellness. And so I went into education for that,” she said, moving on to what came after she became a nurse. “I worked for six years as a chemo nurse at a private clinic practice. And, you know, having that cancer diagnosis to begin with is a nightmare. And then the hope that these patients give, and you're there a part of their journey, to bring them their hope, and provide them their hope. And sometimes the hope comes to an end, and then you help them cross that journey over to their next spiritual life. I had a spiritual moment. And so from there, I was called to the ordained ministry.”

Her work in both of those fields — the combined effort of those fields — have made Cox one of Rochester Business Journal’s Women of Excellence 2024 Awards honorees. All of them will be recognized during an awards dinner on May 14 at the Riverside Convention Center, 123 E. Main St., Rochester.

As a teenager, Cox was drawn to the human services field and be a support to patients, “to hold their hand” and effect tangible change in their lives, she said. However, after getting her master’s in health education, there weren’t jobs available for what she really wanted to do, so she ended up going to BOCES for her licensed practical nurse degree and then obtained her registered nurse degree from Brockport State College.

Cox had also been a lay person in the Episcopal church and was being called for many duties. It was during this time period that she had a revelation.

“When they say the Holy Spirit comes to you, the Holy Spirit does come to you,” she said. “It is a process spiritually, where you walk through this journey of prayerfulness.”

That process becomes more regimented, in that a committee of people get involved, including the bishop, “who talks to you and works with you spiritually with God, and you make a decision to be ordained,” she said. 

Cox made that decision to become an ordained deacon, which precedes becoming a priest, bishop and then presiding bishop for those that choose those next steps. Cox’s heart was pulled toward serving through pastoral care and as a faith community nurse, with ultimate goals to support the underserved, feed the poor and take care of children and the oppressed, and people who don’t otherwise have a voice in the world, “so we advocate for them,” she said. 

She began to work at Genesee County Jail in 2016 as a nurse and as a deacon, believing “we’re all children of God.”

“How you believe or what you believe, it’s not for me to decide. I don’t see the biases in the color of people’s skin or language. I’ve worked with people of Pakistan at Rochester General; they did not speak English. It’s just through eye contact and body language. You can still give love and hope and compassion to people; it doesn’t matter whether you speak English, there’s a way to communicate.”

Despite working with many incarcerated individuals, “I’ve never felt unsafe,” she said. Inmates have treated her respectfully, and in return, even when she’s known their criminal records, “I step back, and they’re human beings.”

“A lot of times I do know their crimes; that’s not my job, my job is to see they’re medically taken care of, and spiritually taken care of, and to be treated as a human being with dignity,” she said.

Jail Superintendent William Zipfel has worked with Cox since she was a nurse there, and watched as she filled in when the full-time RN retired in May 2022. She was a “true local angel of mercy,” he said.

“This meant that Diane was our only nurse, serving what is typically a rather medically needy population of jail inmates. She served a population of anywhere from 45 to 70 inmates on a daily basis. This included doing intake health assessments, daily sick calls, making appointments for x-rays, medical specialists, dentist visits and a host of other needs. This also was during the period of the beginning of the COVID pandemic,” he said. “Diane worked daily with our inmate population and our staff to ensure the best quality response to their health care needs and safety. She did daily COVID testing of symptomatic inmates and those coming in on intake. She helped develop our response plan and oversaw the care of those inmates that tested positive. When she herself tested positive she worked from home to ensure appointments were make and kept and necessary prescriptions were ordered.

“When COVID hit, visitation, church services and other programs were closed down at the jail,” he said. “With those services shut down, Diane stepped up and, with her ecumenical training and ordination in the Episcopal Church, ministered to the inmates spiritual needs as well. She held church services and helped council inmates who wished to have spiritual guidance.”

Cox works with end-of-life patients throughout Genesee and Wyoming counties under the Episcopal Diocese of Western New York, in addition to being subcontracted per diem by Genesee County Jail.

“Since ordination, Deacon Diane has combined her role in the church with her role as a healthcare provider, providing counsel to a number of people in various stages of life, with special attention to the chronically ill and dying. Diane has taken a congregation in Stafford New York through significant losses and has earned their trust as they grieve their losses,” The Rev. Cathy Dempesy-Sims, Canon for Pastoral Care and Congregational Support, said. “Deacon Diane is a testament to the diaconate and her medical knowledge provides comfort and advice to scores of people in the Genesee Region.”

Cox also works part-time for Marktec Products in Batavia, where her husband Bill is CEO. He is “very proud of Diane for her accomplishments and this recognition by the RBJ,” he said.

“She spends many volunteer hours each week fulfilling her role of deacon, as well as her RN work at the County Jail, and at Marktec,” he said. “She is also a great wife.”

How does she manage her own emotions while dealing with death and the intensity of inmate issues? Dogs, food and entertaining, for starters.

“I am an avid chef, I can make you a gourmet hotdog if you want … I can put on a seven-course dinner and not be stressed. I like cooking, gardening, I exercise, go on retreats. I have three rescue dogs,” she said. “I do take me time.”

She plans to further her education by studying to become an end-of-life doula, someone that can help people at the end of their lives just as birthing doulas help with the beginning.

“So, bringing people awareness of what end of life care is and how, no, it’s not easy, but it can be talked about, like planning a birth and everybody’s excited for the birth process, and there are birthing doulas, and so we’re now coming full circle to have dying or death doulas. It’s a preparation.”

Her mom will be 92 and has a seat in the audience to watch her daughter receive this award. It's a humbling and "wow" moment, and not what Cox does it for, she said.

"I just do what I'm called to do, I listen to my heart," she said. "My mom will be quite honored to see my achievements."

Now that most of the physical portion—the $70 million structure and internal components—of the new Genesee County Jail on West Main Street Road in Batavia is in place, Deputy Jail Superintendent Jeffrey Searls says the organizational part is next, and it is the most crucial part as far as the facility's safety and operation are concerned.

Genesee Justice has been moved out of the old jail downtown to its new quarters, and the focus is on training for those employees who need to know the lay of the land, Searls said during this week’s Public Service meeting.

“The main thing for us now will be getting training hours in and hitting all the topics for the Commissioner of Corrections standards. So we're working with them; their commission is sending at least one person out every other week to work with the transition team and myself on helping classifications and training several. Towards the end of May, we're going to start classes where all the CO’s are coming over, we’ll have a 36-hour class, three days to get everyone through and on board,” he said. “The Commission is also looking for much more training in our control room operations. So what we have done is with the transition team, basically being subject matter experts of the facility, have trained up a number of senior officers and training officers providing security 24/7 now, and then we are systematically training everyone one by one, multiple times working shifts, working security, but also going through the physical plans of the facility — understanding it and getting to know it and through operations and the control room, which are very, I don’t want to say difficult, but there’s a lot of moving parts within the control room.” 

Searls, who worked 23 years with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, began his role at the jail in December. According to an online bio, he has skills in collaborative problem-solving, coaching, security policy development, strategic thinking, leadership, criminal justice and supervisory abilities. 

He said that the new jail would hold an open house for the public to tour the facility, likely during the ribbon-cutting on May 10. Inmates won’t be moved in until everyone is comfortable with the procedures for picking up and dropping them off and the other protocols, he said.

Staff and other agencies, including law enforcement and fire departments will also review potential crisis situations, he said.

“We’ll get Batavia Fire going through doing the training on a regular schedule of Monday night training. So we’ll let them get out there, get full tours, know where everything is, all what they need to know for combating a fire there. I'll have more schematics come through,” he said. “We’re planning on having a law enforcement day. We have a lot of support; the sheriffs’ jail superintendents from around the area who have supported us along the way come through … we'll have the different shifts of the deputies … go through what the procedures will be at the facility, and how things will be the same or different for picking up and dropping off.”

Undersheriff Brad Mazur said that there are six correction officer vacancies, with four candidates in the background check phase. There are nine female correction officers in place since the new facility will house both males and females. 

Due to increased staffing needs for basic operations, work detail programs may be negatively impacted, according to Mazur’s report of the first quarter of 2024. CO training for the new jail, as Searls mentioned above, will result in an increase in overtime, the report states. Overtime in the first quarter was $90,318.

The average daily male population was 60, with 46 females being boarded out at a cost of $18,445, not including March, because that bill had not been received yet. The cost of meals was $38,778.47, at $2.11 per meal for 18,333 meals. 

During the meeting, Assistant Director of Emergency Communications Peter Hendrickson Jr. and Director Frank Riccobono reviewed the increased calls for service amidst the staffing shortage of two dispatcher vacancies. Calls have increased 13.78 percent since 2022, with a 36 percent rise in mental health-related calls. 

Director Frank Riccobono didn’t run the total numbers, he said, “but my gut feeling is they’re way up.”

“We're starting to get mental health calls involving 7-year-olds and 8-year-olds that back, you know when I first started, was unheard of. Right now, any mental health call is a two-car response until we can prove otherwise. There's been cases around the country where a juvenile ends up getting access either to a firearm or to some other type of weapon. So we have to play it safe until we can determine otherwise. It's a changed world,” Riccobono said. “We all know we're dealing with more children coming from broken homes. I’m certain that's probably part of it. But the inability to cope today seems huge, whether it's a child or an adult. I mean, we're getting calls that, you know, people can't even talk to their neighbor anymore, it seems, without having the police involved, and never in our day would we have done that.”

Sheriff’s Office deputies have had training with Genesee County’s Mental Health Department to help them respond to mental health calls, and they have access to a multi-county Spectrum crisis response, which has either determined that no response is warranted or has sometimes taken 45 minutes to arrive, he said. 

“People have talked to me about children in crisis,” Legislator Marianne Clattenburg said. “It’s difficult enough to talk to a 9-year-old … and then to wade into that by yourself, I want to make sure there’s help.”

Deputies have an iPad to make Telehealth calls to a doctor for guidance when needed, Riccobono said. 

Press Release:

Genesee Justice, a vital component of the Genesee County community, is pleased to announce its forthcoming relocation to a new office space at the state-of-the-art Genesee County Jail. 

Effective Thursday, April 4, our new address will be:

Genesee Justice, 3839 West Main St Rd. Batavia.

We kindly request that all individuals who refer to our office note this address change to ensure seamless communication and service delivery.

For further inquiries, please contact 585-815-7821 or Genesee.Justice@co.genesee.ny.us

As one of the leads on Genesee County’s new jail on Route 5, assistant engineer Laura Wadhams is understandably happy to see the $70 million facility finally round the corner to completion with a colorful array of inmate pods ready and waiting for beds and other furnishings to be installed next week.

“Today seems kind of fitting because as of March 15, the building was finally complete and is actually ours now. So, as of today, the jail transitions team is staffing the building 24/7 for security. They’ll be there from here until they open and move the inmates,” Wadhams said Monday during the county’s Public Service Committee meeting. “We are going to be turning over the keys to the jail staff, a little quick ceremony … the furniture is actually starting to be delivered on March 25, so it will be all of the commercial furniture for the jail admin, Genesee Justice, all the training rooms, things like that. And we’re working on planning for a dedication ceremony complete for sometime in May too, and officially open the building to the public.”

Senior Project Manager Carl York, who has typically given jail updates, has already moved on to another project, she said. She showed pictures of the new jail, including “the nice clean pods,” which are inmate cells in various colors of green, yellow, and purple for the women’s block, which “got the most separations,” Wadhams said. 

She said each block will be self-contained, with food brought to the inmates and each group having access to an outdoor area. Legislator John Deleo remarked how swiftly the facility has progressed to this endpoint.

“You’ve done an outstanding job,” he said. 

Staff from Genesee Justice will be moved out of the current jail at 14 W. Main St. to the new jail in April, and inmates will eventually move into their new housing by summertime, Wadhams said. The Public Defender’s staff will move to the old jail during renovations of the Engine House and will then move back once those are finished. 

Landscaping will be completed once the weather cooperates with warmer temperatures, she said.

“You can really see how far this building has come in the past two years. It's pretty amazing. So it's looking a little bit greener out there,” she said. "Now I’m excited to see how that comes through this spring. We’ve got some paving to do, clean up around the outside, landscaping, get rid of that big topsoil stockpile on the back, but it's looking great out there.”

The jail staff is working out a final plan to move inmates over to the new jail this summer, and there will be “quite a bit of training that our COs have to do for this style of jail compared to the jail that they have now,” Wadhams said. 

“So rotating COs through to do training while they’re still operating the jail at 14 W. Main is going to take some time,” she said.

County Manager Matt Landers reviewed a related change order for $59,725 for construction costs to install the backup 911 center in the planned shell space at the new jail. This amount is to be paid out of the new jail capital project budget and not an added expense, Landers said. 

The committee approved it, and a resolution will go onto the Ways & Means and then the full Legislature for a vote during the next two weeks.

Wadhams has worked as a civil, staff, and transportation engineer and transportation construction inspector for the New York State Department of Transportation. The new county jail was her largest county project since being hired as assistant engineer in September 2018, she said. 

She explained it sort of as a doll’s house you could see from an aerial view. 

“So when we talk about furniture, fixtures and equipment that's yet to come in, if you take the top off the building, turn it upside down, shake it, anything that would fall out would be considered furniture, fixtures and equipment. So think of desks and chairs, computers, TVs, things like that would also have to go into the building. So right now, it's a very nice, clean, empty shell for us to move into,” she said.

What will be going into the old jail and Genesee Justice building?

“It’s still all up in the air right now. I mean, it's a great central location for the county. So what ends up going in there is still to be determined. And there's gonna have to be some renovations done in order for anybody to use the space. So that's an intermediate while they work on the Engine House. So that's why Genesee Justice had to move. It's a very domino effect,” she’s said. “Right now, I'm glad we have it for the public defenders to move over. because it's still super central for what they need to do while the Engine House is being renovated, hopefully this summer.”

What’s your favorite part of such a project? Is it the beginning, ribbon-cutting, or some point in between?

“That’s a good question; I've never been asked that question before. I mean, for me, it's the end user, it's kind of certainly the ribbon cutting, that's great. You know, it's great for everybody to see it, step back and really look at it, take it all in,” she said. “But for me, it's seeing the end user, seeing Genesee Justice in their new space and jail admin in the new space, seeing, you know, our corrections staff is excited about working in a safe and bright and open space that they're going to be in, all the new technology that's going to be in this building that'll make that a lot safer for our corrections staff, plus the incarcerated individuals, it's going to be huge. So really excited to see that all come to happen.”

Hard to believe, but nearly two years have passed since the groundbreaking for the new Genesee County Jail, and officials are now talking about its completion being on time for this spring.

"I took a tour of the jail. Things look really good," Legislator Gary Maha said during this week's Public Service meeting.

Beyond aesthetics, crews have been on site ensuring that safety, infrastructure and technology have also been properly put in place since construction began in May 2022 after several years of the county's initial planning and saving for the $70 million, 184-bed facility. 

Regular updates by The Pike Company Senior Project Manager Carl York have kept legislators apprised about change orders, on-site tasks, weather issues, supply chain delays, worker injuries (there have been few), and the expected timeline with each passing month.

About 100 oversized cement pods made news in January 2023 as they were slowly hauled down Route 5 to the site of the new jail at 3839 West Main Street Road, Batavia. A ceremonial beam signing took place in July 2023 as work crews continued to put the pieces together for what York has continuously labeled a financially on-target and on-schedule project.

True, there have been supply chain issues and change orders throughout the construction process, but all the while York said spending was on budget. At one point, the timeline lost seven days due to rain, but the project remained on course, he said, and that still holds true for a March 15 deadline.

Legislature Chairwoman Shelley Stein asked if there would be tours available for remaining legislators, and Deputy Highway Superintendent Paul Osborn said most likely by April. The prison is expected to be up and running in June or July.

Press Release:

Genesee County Sheriff William A. Sheron Jr. announces the graduation of Correction Officers Ian A. Sanfratello, Aaron M. Spring, and William H. Steavens today from the Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy’s 27th Basic Course for Correction Officers.

At the top of the class was C.O. Sanfratello who received the Academic Excellence and Joseph E. Steblein Memorial awards. Joseph E. Steblein was the first director of the Niagara County Law Enforcement Academy. This memorial award is presented to the individual who demonstrates overall excellence in all areas of training and is selected by the instructors of the academy.

The 247-hour course included training in effective communications, essential services, use of force, NYS Penal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, Inmate Transportation, Firearms, Pepper Spray, Taser and Defensive Tactics, and other topics pertaining to corrections. 

“Congratulations to all three of these Correction Officers. We look forward to your future in Corrections at the Genesee County Jail,” stated Sheriff William A. Sheron, Jr.

Press Release:

Last week’s phone issues at the Genesee County Jail have been resolved.  The main phone number (585-343-0838) is now operational.  Thank you for your patience.

 

Given the frequency of phone issues at Genesee County Jail recently, The Batavian contacted the county to find out what was going on, and if other county offices were experiencing similar phone connection problems.

Michael Burns, director of Information Technology for the county IT Department, said that the current problem is that the jail’s main phone number is not rolling over to other available internal phone extensions when more than one call is received. 

“Single calls are connecting as expected. The vendors who supply phone services to the jail are working on this issue,” Burns said Friday afternoon. “This current issue is not related to the previous recent problems that the Jail experienced. This current issue is isolated to the Jail and does not affect other county phones.”

There have been a number of times that the public has been advised to call an alternate number due to the main number at the county Jail being out of service, including Friday.

If you dial the main phone number, 585-343-0838, and it is busy or you cannot get through, call 585-343-0839 or 585-343-0840.  

Press Release:

The Genesee County Jail is currently experiencing phone issues.  If you dial the main phone number, 585-343-0838, and it is busy or you cannot get through, please call 585-343-0839 or 585-343-0840.  

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.  

The main phone number to the Genesee County Jail (585-343-0838) is now operational. 

We apologize for any inconveniences.

The main phone number to the Genesee County Jail (585-343-0838) is experiencing issues, with an estimated resolution for some time on Wednesday, October 4.

Please dial 585-343-0839 in the interim.

Press Release:

The main number to the Genesee County Jail  -- 585-343-0838 -- is back in service. We apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused.

Press Release:

The main number to the Genesee County Jail  -- 585-343-0838 -- is temporarily out of service. Please dial 585-343-0839.

After a tour of the new Genesee County Jail, under construction off of West Main Street Road in Batavia, County Legislature Chairwoman Shelley Stein said she likes what she sees so far in the new jail.

"It's incredible how all of the trades have worked so well together,' Stein said. "Pike, our construction management group, said we were going to be really happy with them. We are really happy with them. They have kept this project tight on budget. We have hardly tapped our contingency fund, not even one percent yet. So we're just amazed at the progress that we see."

The $70 million, 184-bed facility will be able to house both male and female inmates, provide space for mental health services, space for arraignments, along with the usual accommodations of a jail -- a place for inmates to exercise, take in recreational activities, eat, and meet with visitors.

The modern facility will also mean increased safety for county staff working at the jail.

Everything Stein saw on Monday, she said, aligns with her expectations, which developed with elected leaders visited other new jails in other counties to see what they had done.

"Visiting the jails that we visited, this lines up with exactly what we said that we wanted from what we saw," Stein said. "We have to make sure that our staff that interacts with our inmates remain healthy, well cared for and respected along with those inmates that we are tasked with housing at the same time. So this is all about human respect and dignity."

Stein spoke with The Batavian after a brief signing ceremony -- Stein, Sheriff Bill Sheron, Jail Superintendent Bill Zipfel, along with other county officials and construction company heads, signed a steel beam that will be the final steel beam installed in the new jail.

"I know that it is being built right," Stein said. "It's being built one time, and it'll be here for a long time. Public safety is something that we all prize, and this will be a key cornerstone of the community's public safety for a long time. I hope for a good century"

Press Release:

Genesee County is participating in a new pilot program for the upcoming correction officer civil service exam. A new pilot program is being tested by New York State’s civil service is an online examination questionnaire that asks questions about an applicant’s education, training, and work experience instead of the usual multiple-choice written exam. 

The new exam will be used to establish a list of candidates to fill future Correction Officer vacancies once the current eligibility list is either exhausted or expired in one year (2024). Submit an examination application to Human Resources on or before 5 p.m., May 12. Approved applicants will be sent a notice containing directions to a website address to complete the Training and Experience Questionnaire. The questionnaire must be completed between June 1 and June 30. The answers from the questionnaire will be used to rate and score your test against the general requirements of the position, which will be based on training and experience gained before the filing deadline of May 12.

Minimum qualifications of Correction Officers include graduation from high school or possession of an equivalency diploma. Applicants may file for this exam if they expect to complete the educational requirement by June 30. Proof of educational requirements must be submitted no later than two months after completion. Candidate must be at least 18 years of age at the time of appointment, not the time of application to take the exam.

“Currently, there are four full-time Correction Officer vacancies that we are looking to fill and six additional positions being added (three effective July 1, and three effective October 1),” stated Sheriff William A. Sheron, Jr. “Now is the time to begin a rewarding career in law enforcement. In order to be considered for the positions, applicants must take the civil service exam. Even if you took the previous civil service exam, you will want to apply to take the new exam.”

Press Release:

Genesee County Sheriff William A. Sheron Jr. announces the graduation of Correction Officers Zachary J. Tacy, Wyatt J. Sando, Christopher A. Bauer-Smith, and Katherine M. Stearns. At the top of the class were C.O. Tacy for academics and C.O. Sando for Top Gun. 

These Correction Officers recently graduated on April 27, 2023, from the Livingston County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Officer/Peace Officer Academy. The 247-hour course included training in effective communications, essential services, use of force, NYS Penal Law, Criminal Procedure Law, Inmate Transportation, Firearms, Pepper Spray, Taser and Defensive Tactics, and other topics pertaining to corrections. 

“Congratulations to Correction Officers Tacy, Sando, Bauer-Smith and Stearns. We look forward to your future in Corrections at the Genesee County Jail,” stated Sheriff William A. Sheron Jr.

Submitted photo.