The Lee County Sheriff’s Office Core Facility Expansion Project has been completed and inmates will have to relocate to their new assigned housing beginning the morning of Thursday, Nov. 20.

The nationally acclaimed and award-winning Lee County Correctional Emergency Response Team will be utilized to facilitate and execute the inmate movement from the Stockade Compound to the new Core Facility.

The 784-bed facility will house medium and maximum security inmates from all of the jail facilities to include the inmates from the deteriorating Stockade Compound.

General population inmates will occupy 768 beds with the remaining beds utilized for special housing needs for male and female inmates, juveniles and mental health inmates. In addition, the new Core infirmary will better serve the inmate population by allowing the medical staff to work efficiently in a larger medical department.

With an average inmate daily population of 2,200 inmates, the new Core Facility will encompass 181,630 square feet that will accommodate the unprecedented 25 percent surge in inmate population that Lee County has most recently experienced.

The antiquated stockade compound is set for demolition later this year and will pave the way for a future expansion on the Ortiz Compound.