Lydig Construction Inc., of Spokane, has landed an $11.4 million prison-complex upgrade project at the Washington State Penitentiary, in Walla Walla.


The job involves improving security features in a three-building medium-security complex so that it can be used as a higher-security complex, referred to as a close-custody facility, says Joy Wellman, a Walla Walla-based project manager for the Washington state Department of Corrections.


Joe Williams, a project manager at Lydig, says the project involves installing new security systems, cell doors, and control booths in each of the three structures. Lydig also will upgrade the mechanical and electrical systems in each building and will install new beds in the cells.


The three structuresnamed the Baker, Adams, and Rainier unitsare identical in size and design, and each 110-bed facility includes three levels and about 42,000 square feet of floor space.


Lydig will renovate one building at a time, and the prisoners in each building will be moved to another facility as that building is modified, Wellman says. One building already has been vacated, she says, and Lydig likely will start work on that first building later this month.


The Spokane contractor has handled other projects at the Walla Walla prison in the past.


Williams says work on all three structures is scheduled to be completed by February 2007.


Wellman says the three buildings house a total of 330 inmates. The prison currently houses about 1,900 inmates, all men.


Ambia, an Olympia, Wash.-based architectural firm formerly known as BJSS Duarte Bryant, designed the improvements.


The Washington State Penitentiary is situated on 540 acres of land and includes maximum, close-custody, medium, and minimum-security facilities. It also houses one of the states three intensive-management units, which house prisoners who have been sentenced to death or have been identified as high security risk.