Yazoo City U.S. Penitentiary and Satellite Camp

GRW led the design team, in conjunction with Yates/Caddell JV, for the design/build of a certified LEED Gold, men’s high-security United States Penitentiary (USP) and minimum-security Federal Prison Camp (FPC) located in Yazoo City, Mississippi. This $182,000,000 project has a gross building area of 780,000 SF, and can house approximately 1,200 inmates. The USP campus plan places six, 2-story housing units, a secure housing unit, and program and multipurpose functions in a rectangular campus layout enclosing a central secure compound. The FPC comprises a camp housing building and a camp core building. Other support buildings include a warehouse building, utility building, wastewater building and guard towers.

A summary of the prison's components include:

• Six, 2-story housing buildings, housing 960 inmates (322,907 SF)
• One 2-story special housing building accommodating 120 inmates (33,917 SF)
• Food service (kitchen/dining) building (24,498 SF)
• Medical services building (10,315 SF)
• Warehouse (52,506 SF)
• Wastewater building (667 SF)
• Administrative buildings (46,973 SF)
• Recreational building (18,355 SF)
• Education/psychology/religious facilities (24,671 SF)
• Personal services building (19,989 SF)
• Vocational building (6,824 SF)
• Factory (64,035 SF)
• Central utilities plant (13,896 SF)
• Maintenance shops (17,986 SF)
• Two guard towers (2,325 SF)
• Camp core building (27,147 SF)
• Camp housing building (32,798 SF)
• Physical and electronic security systems
• Utilities (potable and fire water mains, sanitary sewers, site electrical distribution and communication duct banks)

Site Development/Utilities

Site work involves earthwork, roadways and parking, building pads, and utilities for the 76-acre United States Penitentiary and Federal Prison Camp and support facilities.  The project necessitated an early site work package in order to keep the project on schedule. Site development tasks included:

• Detention/sedimentation ponds for control storm water runoff
• Efficient vehicular circulation system to separate visitors, deliveries and security
• Balancing site elevations in order to develop most economical earthwork.
• Design of looped water system and tank to provide fire protection to the facility
• Design of gravity sanitary sewer system and wastewater pump facility.
• Design of recreation areas including baseball, soccer and basketball
• Design of quadruple security fencing system

The approximate $2.2 million storm sewer system included 14,781 LF of pipe ranging in size from 8" to 48" in diameter. The breakdown of pipe diameters and length is as follows: 8" / 380 LF; 12" / 1,140 LF; 15" / 1,323 LF; 18" / 2,778 LF; 21" / 743 LF; 24" / 4,733 LF; 30" / 1,633 LF; 42" / 600 LF; and 48" / 1,451 LF.

Stormwater management was important part of the project as there were numerous protected wetlands within and adjacent to the site. The detention ponds were designed to allow for the storage of a 2-year/24-hour storm, and for this storm to percolate into the ground. This design also means the detention pod will have zero discharge for 2-year/24-hour storms or smaller. By designing the ponds in this manner, on-site infiltration is increased thereby reducing the rate and quantity of stormwater runoff leaving the site.