OBERLIN — Construction on the $3.8 million Allen Parish jail is about 75 percent complete, and Sheriff Doug Hebert III said he hopes to have the facility finished by the end of March.

Some delays caused by the weather and approval from the health department and fire marshal have set the project back by about 30 days, he said.

Crews are installing the sprinkler system and have started putting in ceilings and working on the parking lot.

“It’s starting to look like a jail, which is pretty neat,” Hebert said. “We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we certainly can’t wait to get it open and fill it up.”

The Sheriff’s Office has had to decide who to incarcerate and has had to write tickets or find other avenues to handle offenders due to a lack of jail space.

The new jail will have 199 beds, including 16 for women. It will also have the ability to hold up to 16 state inmates, who will serve as trusties.

The jail will include 12 lockdown cells for at-risk inmates, two isolation cells for sick inmates, a suicide watch cell and four temporary holding cells. Offices and the 911 center will be on the second floor.

Hebert hopes to have the administrative offices and staff in the new building shortly after completion.

The 40,000-square-foot facility features eight single-story domelike structures, or pods, for the inmates. It replaces an aging 40-bed parish jail behind the parish courthouse in downtown Oberlin.

Work began on the new jail, which is on a 47-acre site just off La. 26, shortly after groundbreaking in December 2013.

Construction is being funded by $3 million from a gabling compact with the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana, $5.5 million from the State Bond Commission and money from other sources.

(Doris Maricle/American Press)