York County Jail about to get bigger

ALFRED – The new York County Jail, more than five times the size of its predecessor, is set to open at the end of July.

Inmates will be transferred to the new $20 million jail in late September, Jail Administrator Michael Vitiello said.

Sheriff’s Department employees toured the new facility over the weekend.

For corrections staff, the state-of-the-art, clean, bright building is heads above the existing jail building.

“It’s a whole different atmosphere,” said Officer Alan Whitmore. “We’ll have more contact with inmates. It will take some getting used to. There’s a lot of training involved.”

The new building is more than 120,000 square feet. The existing jail, which opened in 1979, is 22,000 square feet.

The new jail cost about $20 million and is designed to house 223 inmates, with 30 more in a prerelease center.

The state Department of Corrections has given approval for 270 beds in the main structure and 50 in the prerelease center, for a total of 320, contingent on approval by the town of Alfred.

The existing jail now has around 130 inmates. Sheriff Philip G. Cote hopes to be able to rent some jail beds to other counties.

The new jail has a library, computer labs and a gym. It also has a 24-bed maximum security unit, a unit for female prisoners, an 11-bed infirmary likely to go on line in the new year, a 36-bed mental health unit, and housing units for the general inmate population.