Construction

On March 6, 1997, the Peumansend Creek Regional Jail Authority awarded the construction contract to Bell Construction of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, for a total contract sum of $18,401,600.00. Construction began on March 27, 1997. The facility is located in Bowling Green, Caroline County, Virginia in the center of Fort A. P. Hill. The land is granted to Caroline County from the federal government for the construction and operation of a jail.

A construction start ceremony was conducted on March 27, 1997 at the construction site. Balloons were released into the air to signify all those responsible for the creation of the project.

Four open houses were conducted to celebrate the decade old project. A focus press invitation was conducted on the morning of August 19, 1999. The official ribbon cutting, dedication and ground breaking was held later that morning. The public was invited to tour the facility on August 20th and the families of the new employees were able to tour the facility where their loved ones would be working on August 21st.

The street name of the facility, 11093 S. W. Lewis Memorial Drive, was named after a local jailer killed in the line of duty. In late March 1947, Deputy Sheriff Strother William Lewis, age 52, was carrying water to an inmate painter and a bundle of clothes to another inmate when a third inmate grabbed Officer Lewis' revolver and fatally shot him in the face. Officer Lewis had served seven years with the Caroline County Sheriff's Department. Officer Lewis was also a Navy veteran who saw action in World War I as an electrician second mate aboard the USS St. Louis in the European theatre.