Tarrant County commissioners hosted a ribbon cutting for the new maximum security county jail in September after voting to name the facility for Lon Evans, the county's longest-serving sheriff.
Construction on the 207,700-square-foot jail began in April 2010 and finished this summer. The five-story facility, anticipated to come in millions under budget at $78.6 million, features a full kitchen with a capacity of 16,500 meals per day and 444 maxiumum security inmate beds, including:
- 96 male medical beds
- 189 male single cells
- 96 male separation cells
- 39 female single cells
- 24 female separation cells
Evans, who died in 1992, played football for the Green Bay Packers and worked for Tarrant County in several capacities during his life.
He served as Tarrant County sheriff for an unprecedented 24 years before his retirement in 1984, and his legacy included vocational training for inmates, literacy programs at the jail and a Junior Deputy Squad of youth meant to help deter crime among would-be, first-time and repeat offenders.
