STEUBENVILLE — A $622,804 grant awarded through Ohio’s Jail Safety and Security Program will be used to upgrade plumbing and the HVAC in the nearly 30-year-old Jefferson County Jail, Sheriff Fred Abdalla said Friday.

Abdalla said they’ll be able to do much-needed updates without burdening taxpayers.

“I am extremely happy that these upgrades — which were inevitable — can now be completed without the burden to the taxpayers of Jefferson County,” said Abdalla, who said he couldn’t be happier about securing the funding.

On Friday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Director Annette Chambers-Smith announced $50 million in grants to support construction and renovation projects at 19 jails across the state — seven of them to help fund new jail construction, expansion, or major renovation projects, 11 for structural upgrades, security enhancements, and smaller renovation projects; and one county for a needs assessment/feasibility study.

The Jail Safety and Security Program, which was launched by DeWine in partnership with the Ohio General Assembly in 2021, was designed to help local communities fund improvements at functionally obsolete and structurally failing jails.

The Jefferson County Justice Center, built in 1998, houses the jail. Over the past three decades the county has spent well over a million dollars on repairs and updates.

“The upgrades will also bring increased efficiency, which, hopefully, will help to reduce operating costs,” Abdalla said.

DeWine said the funds “not only support safer environments for those living and working in our local jails, but…will also help prepare inmates for release by creating improved spaces for workforce development, educational opportunities, and other programming.”

“We’re very pleased,” Commissioner Tony Morelli said. “Led by Sheriff Abdalla and his team, the county has made many improvements to the Justice Center in the last few year — we recently finished a new roof, just to name one.

“With this grant we can do some things that are needed but the funding wasn’t available for,” Morelli added. “As chairman of the County Commission, I want to say thanks to the governor and his team for sending this grant money to Jefferson County.”

Abdalla said they’ll use the money to replace the heating and air conditioning system and to replace and add more hot water tanks.

“These upgrades are very important to the jail operation because water temperature as well as climate control factor into our jail inspection,” he added.

County Maintenance Supervisor Patrick Boyles said the grant means they can “replace three on-demand hot water heaters, add two- to four standing hot water tanks and replace two air handler control valves and our chiller, which is 30 years old.”

“The heaters and the valves (are a problem),” he said. “The chiller has had issues in the past, it’s good now but the equipment is 30-plus years old and needs replacing before failing.”

Chambers-Smith said the grants “will provide more safety and security in facilities and more space for programming, which will improve conditions for both staff and incarcerated people.”

“We are helping these jails provide what they need to better meet the demands of the criminal justice system in their (counties) and prepare the incarcerated population for release back into their communities,” Chambers-Smith said.

Funding for this round of the Ohio Jail Safety and Security Grant Program comes from the current capital budget, DeWine said. Including Friday’s announcement, more than $228 million in state funding has been awarded to 50 jails serving over 50 counties.

The program is administered through the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s Bureau of Adult Detention.