Butler County Courthouse and Justice Center

JE Dunn provided construction management services on a new courthouse and a separate jail facility located approximately three miles from each other in El Dorado, Kansas.

The Butler County Jail is a 71,644-square-foot, two-story, 280-bed detention facility. The new jail consists of four rectangular housing units connected in the middle. Each unit has its own outdoor recreation area and accommodates minimum, medium and maximum security inmates, in addition to a special work release area. Constructed of structural steel with brick exterior, the 61,654-square-foot, three-story courthouse building features multiple judges’ chambers, five courtrooms and administrative offices. This project was highly complex due to the combination of site demolition and new construction all occurring simultaneously on a tight downtown site located across the street from the historic courthouse.

Both facilities are outfitted with state-of-the-art technology and security systems needed to accommodate the transportation of inmates from the courthouse to the jail location and provide complete detention support, including all sheriff’s office functions, intake, inmate processing, short term holding functions and sally port areas.