An $18 million hotel you don't want to visit.

Sheriff Robert Carlson, middle photo, in one of the jail's new 32-bed dormitory-style rooms. Lower photo shows deputies undergoing training.

More pictures here.

The new Racine County Jail is not the jail you've seen in countless movies and TV shows: you know, the one with rows of cramped cells with barred metal doors that clang shut, leaving the inmates standing sullenly inside, hands gripping the bars.

There are no barred metal doors at all; only big, brightly lighted dormitory-style rooms. The two inmate-housing floors of the new jail are strictly for Level 1 inmates -- those on their best behavior -- and most will live 32 in a room, sharing 16 metal bunk beds, metal tables and stools bolted to the concrete floor, and a television set mounted near the ceiling.

The spacious rooms include two perks: a Coke machine and a snacks machine, operated by inmate debit cards. There's also a touchscreen computer terminal through which inmates can order basic supplies, and refresh those debit cards if money has been deposited in their accounts.

The four big cells and one smaller one, will hold 145 prisoners per floor; 270 total new beds. There are doors of course, but the first impression a visitor gets is of windows: big, wide windows looking into every cell and classroom from centrally located control "islands" for correctional officers. Officers can look in, but inmates see only reflections of themselves in the glass.

Tour the new jail with Sheriff Robert Carlson and jail administrator Capt. Jim Scherff and you come away with mixed feelings. It's easy to appreciate their enthusiasm for the new facility. "Our goal was to improve the workflow," Carlson said, and the new jail clearly achieves that, while also improving the living conditions of the inmates.

But don't make the mistake of thinking this is a place you could quietly do time, maybe catch up on your reading. You'll be spending all your time with your 31 new best friends: no privacy, no recreation time, few opportunities for self-improvement (volunteers bring a cart of library books around every two weeks). There are a few small classrooms, but no gym, no "yard" for walking, playing basketball or whatever. Inmates are allowed one visit per week, lasting 15 minutes.

On the other hand, the new section of the jail is a big improvement over the old jail, which has much smaller cells that for the most part are overcrowded. The day rooms where inmates sit or stand all day, listening to the one TV mounted to the wall are far smaller. (They have six channels to choose from; Jerry Springer always wins out against "The View.")

It is in efficiency and workflow where the new jail really shines. The control island in the inmate intake area provides a clear view through big windows into each of the cells in which inmates may be held for up to 72 hours during processing. In the old jail, the holding cells -- situated down a narrow corridor and faced with barred steel doors -- require a correctional officer to walk past each cell to check on them. Each of the new inmate cell areas is painted a different color, so monitoring officers know instantly where trouble may be occurring.

Safety is also enhanced by the new sally port, through which inmates will be driven into the jail; it's big enough to handle a city bus, and more. The old sally port, which also handled intake of supplies, had room for just a single car; if it was occupied -- say, by the bread truck -- deputies had to park outside with their incoming detainees.

Metal detectors will abound. And the new jail has separate entrances for inmates, the public, lawyers and court personnel, whereas the old jail funneled them all, at the same time, through one cramped entryway.

The first inmates will be moved into the new jail area in November.

In December, Carlson and Scherff hope to embark on a new venture: Hoteliers. They have had what they call "productive discussions" with state and federal correctional agencies, and expect to lease up to 128 beds in the new jail, earning -- after expenses -- $1.8 million per year. (They have only projected for one year, because they don't know how quickly the county's own jail population might fill up all their new space.)

I asked Carlson whether he's nervous about being able to reel in this highly-anticipated bonanza. He smiled, and helds his hands out -- steady as a rock. It all comes down to the same attribute touted by the Chamber of Commerce, and Realtors: location. "We're perfectly placed between Chicago and Milwaukee," he said. "Location is everything."

The new jail, by the numbers:

$18 million: Cost of the addition, and the coming renovation of the old jail's kitchen, office and medical areas.

3: Racine County's jail is Wisconsin's third largest.

742: Current inmate population.

655: The maximum number of inmates the current jail is supposed to hold.

128: Inmate beds the county hopes to fill with state and federal detainees.

$51.46: What the state will pay to house an inmate here, per day.

$71: What the feds will pay to house an inmate here, per day. Federal inmates also will have to be transported to court hearings, in Milwaukee and Chicago, and the feds will pay personnel costs involved in that.

$1.8 million: What the county expects to net from housing state and federal detainees, after expenses of staffing and supplies.

$10 million: Racine County Sheriff's budget next year (estimated). Up about $1 million from this year, due to costs of new jail. "More money is spent on patrol, but the jail is the biggest liability," Carlson says.

104: Deputies and correctional officers who staff the jail. (Includes 9 added in anticipation of caring for state and federal inmates.)

241: Total sheriff department staffing.

10,000: Inmate bookings per year.

7,000: Inmates actually admitted into the jail per year.

2,900: meals prepared by the jail kitchen, per day. Two hot, one cold.

1 year: The longest sentence most inmates have to spend at the jail, although persons sentenced consecutively for multiple misdemeanors could be there longer.