Harrison County approves $577,440 contract with Sedaptic Inc. to replace jail control systems

Harrison County Commissioners Court approved a $577,440.36 agreement with Sedaptic Inc. to design, build and install a control system for the county’s main jail and annex.

The contract was introduced on the supplemental agenda and presented by Patrick Scott, identified in the record as president of Sedaptic Inc. Scott told commissioners his company’s assessment found aging controllers and software in the main jail and annex that are becoming obsolete and increasingly difficult to service. “When that’s gone, it’s gone,” Scott said of spare parts. “It can always grow and adapt the way that this facility in this county is gonna be, moving towards.”

County staff and Sedaptic officials described the existing main-jail controllers as decades-old programmable logic controllers that are no longer manufactured and said the annex’s systems, while newer, are also at risk of failure. Captain Hain, speaking for jail operations, warned the systems are effectively “on life support” and said a controller failure could be “catastrophic.”

Scott said the full replacement would include door sensors, intercoms and camera controls, and that Sedaptic offers a lifetime warranty and free spares on the proposed installation. He said the company has operated since 1989 and serves correctional facilities across multiple states. Scott described a planning period of about six months followed by roughly 22 days of on-site installation for both facilities, and he said Sedaptic typically requests a 20% down payment to schedule work, with financing options available.

County staff discussed financing the down payment. The chair said approving the contract today would put the county “on the hook for about a 114,000” toward the down payment; county staff (Ms. Haines in the transcript) said pending grant reimbursements should cover that amount. The transcript contains partially garbled references to pending reimbursements and budgeted grant amounts; the agenda lists the contract price as $577,440.36 and the court discussed that figure during the meeting.

Commissioner Evar moved to approve the agreement and Commissioner Timmons seconded. The motion passed unanimously, 5-0.

The court and Sedaptic representatives exchanged brief thanks and confirmed Sedaptic would begin the six-month preparation and scheduling process once the county completes contracting and the down-payment arrangements.