DAMAGED DETENTION FACILITY TO BE DEMOLISHED

Escambia County officials have announced the demolition of the former Central Booking and Detention Facility could begin next week. Jobe’s Dirt Works won the contract to tear down the building and clear the site. The job is expected to take eight months and cost $584,000. The building was heavily damaged by a gas explosion in 2014 when the laundry room flooded, breaking gas lines. Two inmates were killed, and dozens of inmates and staff members were injured. A new corrections complex will be built near Pace Boulevard and West Fairfield Drive, and  inmates will move in some time in 2020.