Natrona County Regional Juvenile Detention Center
In the fall of 2008, at the direction of the Natrona County Commissioners, Amundsen Associates initiated the programming and preliminary design of this regional juvenile detention center in response to the need for a modern juvenile detention facility that would provide effective security, safety, intervention and treatment for the youth referred to the Natrona County juvenile court system.
Amundsen Associates teamed with Mike McMillen, a national juvenile detention center programmer, who was previously involved in a study to identify improvements to Natrona County’s juvenile detention center. Over the course of several days a number of city, county and state agencies related to juvenile justice were brought together to come up with a program for the new juvenile detention center. These agencies included: State of Wyoming – Department of Family Services, Juvenile Probation of Wyoming, Central Wyoming Counseling Center, District Attorney – 7th Judicial District – State of Wyoming, Youth Crisis Center of Casper, Natrona County School District, Cornerstone Programs, City of Casper Police Department, Office of the Sheriff – Natrona County, and the Natrona County Commissioners.
In June of 2009, Amundsen Associates was contracted to serve as Architect of Record for the design of the juvenile detention center based on the conceptual design and programming document completed previously by Amundsen Associates.
Description
Amundsen Associates was the Architect-of-Record. Reilly Johnson Architects was the Associate Architect for this project. The new facility contains the following areas: lobby and administration, intake and assessment, visiting, educational classrooms with a life skills room, medical, indoor and outdoor recreation and a 24-bed housing unit with multipurpose rooms and day rooms. The facility is designed to accommodate future expansion of an additional 24-bed housing pod. This 24-bed facility is connected to the adult detention center. Although the two facilities have separate operations, the juvenile facility is served by the kitchen and laundry of the adult facility. This was a cost savings measure implemented during the programming process. Reilly Johnson Architecture was the Associate Architect for the project.
Project details
- Location: Casper, WY
- Area: 27,700 Square Feet
- Cost: $8.5M