LACONIA — The county jail needs to be completely repaired or replaced, county commissioners learned this week.

Consultants Dennis Morin and Graham Vickers, of SMRT Architects & Engineers, a firm which has designed numerous correctional facilities, said aspects of the corrections facility should be addressed to bring the jail up to industry standards.

“A jail is a heavily-used building — it’s like an elementary school, it gets beat up,” Vickers told commissioners on Monday night.

The original Belknap County Jail was constructed in 1890, and has been expanded or renovated in 1954, 1978, 1988, and 2014. A low-security community corrections facility was built in 2018, and isn’t in need of improvement. It’s the older portion of the facility — the jail — which is subject to discussion regardi

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