New RBC Justice Center About Open for Business | The Herald Times | Serving Meeker, Rangely, Dinosaur & Northwest Colorado

This is one of two courtrooms available in the new Rio Blanco County Justice Center. This courtroom will serve County Court and is identical to the other, which will serve the District Court.

Rio Blanco County Commissioner Jon Hill takes a seat to demonstrate one of the inmate cells in the new county Justice Center. These prisoner cells hold two bunk beds, a toilet and a sink. There are four pods of cells, one for women and two for men that hold eight prisoners each and a dorm-style trustee pod that sleeps 10. Each pod has four cells, a shower and metal tables and chairs that are secured and a television.

One can see the jail cells on the left in one of the prisoner pods, which consists of the cells, a shower and a common area where the inmates in that pod can sit together and play games, talk or watch television.

Rio Blanco County Sheriff Anthony Mazzola explains the Jail Control Room, which is where all jail-related controls are located. There are monitors where all parts of the jail can be seen, and the control room controls all door locks, which are remotely controlled. No guns and no keys will be held by detention officers in the general jail population.

The brains of the Rio Blanco County law enforcement system will be housed in the Dispatch Center, where dispatchers will have radio access to all area law enforcement agencies and dispatch police, sheriff and other state and federal law enforcement officers to scenes where they are needed. The dispatch center also had a backup system to the Jail Control Room in cases of emergency or mechanical failure. The center also dispatches for the Meeker Fire Department.

This long hallway runs from the front entry along the area in front of the courts. The floor and walls show off a good example of the red oak used inside the building, allowing for a bright interior unlike many other court areas, which are dark.

This is the front area entrance to the new Rio Blanco County Justice Center, which is expected to be completely open within a month as soon as staff, furniture, computers and other necessities are in place. The entire project cost $16,265,000, but a Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) grant for $2 million brought the cost down to $14,265,000.

This is a secure area in the jail where prisoners are brought into the jail, first processed, fingerprinted, fitted with their jail jumpsuits and are prepared for placement into cells. At no point after entering the jail area do prisoners and the public see each other or interact.

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