'Back to square one:' Bloomington, Monroe County clash over where to build new jail

Editor's note: Part 1 of 2.

Monroe County officials’ quest for a new jail took a major step back when city leaders blocked the county’s plan to build a new facility on the city’s south side.

“We are back at square one now and have to start all over again,” Monroe County Commissioner Lee Jones said.

The Bloomington City Council in December rejected — unanimously — the commissioners’ request to rezone roughly 87 acres of land just east of Ind. 37, on the north side of Fullerton Pike.

Jones said last week the commissioners now will look outside of the city to find a new location to replace the current jail at Seventh Street and College Avenue. According to a consultant hired by the county, the jail has, for reasons including old age and neglect, deteriorated to a point of functional obsolescence.

Discord continues between Bloomington, Monroe County

The city council’s recent action adds another chapter to the already weighty tome of acrimony between city and county officials. The parties have been butting heads in the last few months over issues ranging from housing density to the convention center expansion to annexation.

The sides typically claim to be interested in cooperation and frequently point to the other side as the culprits for why such cooperation isn’t happening to any satisfactory extent.

The city council’s rejection of the jail site’s rezoning has laid bare county officials’ frustrations.

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In a five-hour-plus meeting in December, City Council member Matt Flaherty asked about alternatives to the Fullerton site. Flaherty said the city should have compelling reasons for rezoning a property for a use that clashes with planning documents created after a lengthy process with lots of public input.

Jones said last week the county now plans to build the jail outside of city limits, in part because getting things done in the city is “just very hard.”

“Obviously they aren’t terribly concerned about where the jail goes,” she said.

Criticism of Monroe County's plan for jail site

Flaherty said commissioners are facing near-unanimous opposition to their plan — a survey of criminal justice employees opposed the Fullerton site, too. The committee the commissioners have formed to influence the future of criminal justice in Monroe County includes no one from city government — not even from the Bloomington Police Department — even though the bulk of the county’s residents live in the city.

The committee was established by county ordinance in August 2021 to "serve in an advisory role to assist the government of Monroe County in reviewing and, where appropriate, recommend steps for implementation of … consulting reports ... particularly as it relates to community resources necessary to divert individuals from the system or transition individuals once released from the criminal justice system."

Among the committee's guiding principles is "working collaboratively and transparently" to prioritize treatment over incarceration when appropriate, and to build a justice facility that meets Constitutional standards and "treats inmates with dignity."

Flaherty said the lack of city representation on that committee is “one of the more substantial shortcomings” in the process, and he suggested county officials revise the ordinance that created the committee to include city officials.

Tuesday’s meeting of the committee turned contentious with raised voices, opposing priorities, allegations of disrespect, talk of no transparency and concerns that participants aren't listening to one another.

Jones, who led the almost two-hour-long meeting, emphasized multiple times the county must find and buy land before any other decisions are made. She made assurances no voices would be left out of the planning, but acknowledged not all wishes would be granted.

"We will never make everyone happy," she said. "Too many people have too many different ideas about how things should be."

ACLU agreement requires action, deadline extended

The commissioners also face legal pressure because of an agreement they reached with the American Civil Liberties Union, which sued the county in 2008, alleging the jail’s overcrowding violated state and federal constitutions.

The ACLU said at the time that overcrowding caused inmates to fight over bed space and forced some of them to sleep in the gymnasium, which does not have showers or toilets.

The ACLU described living conditions in the jail as “inhumane, unsanitary, dangerous and harsh.”

The county and the ACLU reached a settlement in summer 2009 that limited the jail’s capacity, prohibited the use of the gym as sleeping quarters and required two reports per year to the court. The case was to be dismissed Jan. 13, 2023, but just last month, the commissioners and the ACLU extended the dismissal deadline by another year to Jan. 15, 2024.

Jones said she believes the ACLU will be lenient toward Monroe County so long as officials continue to work toward building a new jail. ACLU representatives could not be reached for comment.

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com. Laura Lane can be reached at llane@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Monroe County, Bloomington disagree about new jail site