Monroe County's commissioners bent on building jail outside city; Critics say not so fast

Editor's note: Part 2 of 2. Read part 1.

Despite setbacks, acrimony and finger-pointing surrounding the debate about the next iteration of the Monroe County jail, the county's commissioners hope to move into a more peaceful lane.

County attorney Jeff Cockerill said the county expects to choose an architectural/engineering firm next month to help determine options for the future of criminal justice in Monroe County.

After the city council foiled the commissioners' plan to build a new facility on a site off Fullerton Pike, one thing, at least for county commissioners, is clear: The jail will be built outside of city limits.

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While city and county officials have repeatedly suggested alternate sites — the current jail, the old Thompson plant earmarked for Catalent’s expansion, the convention center — Commissioner Lee Jones said this week none of those sites is feasible.

"When we first considered using that property (on Fullerton Pike) we had searched very carefully within the city limits for places that would be suitable and that was really the only property we were able to find,” she said. ”So at this point, we are moving our search out into the county."

Questioning which alternatives have been considered

That isn’t sitting well with some other stakeholders, who said the commissioners have not properly explored or presented alternatives — or at least convinced others that alternate sites within the city are truly unfeasible.

County Council member Jennifer Crossley, for example, said the county should work harder to find a site within the city, and she said the county’s answers so far about why the Catalent site isn't an option have been insufficient.

“I didn’t think they were good enough answers,” she said.

In addition, critics say many problems critics raised about the Fullerton Pike site — lack of transportation options, distance to courtrooms — could be even worse for a site outside city limits.

Jones acknowledged the challenges, but said that’s precisely why commissioners were so surprised when the city council rejected the Fullerton Pike site.

“The vast majority of the problems they were bringing up (are) going to be the same elsewhere,” she said.

Some critics said perhaps the city council's decision presents an opportunity to take a breath, reassess and build greater consensus. At the same time, critics said, the setback might allow stakeholders to address a more immediate concern: the unacceptable conditions at the current jail at Seventh Street and College Avenue.

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“We need to stop, take a breath and think about what it is that we truly want and what we need to do,” said Crossley.

“I don’t feel like we’re moving into that direction,” she said.

Addressing current conditions while planning for the future

Crossley said she toured the jail last year wearing a pandemic mask, but it did not protect her from the facility’s putrid smell. She said the conditions at the jail indicate to her the county is not caring for its people as well as it should.

In addition, she said, many of the inmates deal with mental health and substance abuse issues and/or homelessness, and the lack of resources to address their underlying problems will not go away by constructing a new facility.

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Donyel Byrd, a social worker and former professor at Indiana University, agreed.

She wants the community to dig deeper to determine what can prevent people from ending up in jail in the first place and address those issues before building a new facility.

Byrd, who is part of the local Care not Cages group, said if the county wants to spend money, it should create more affordable housing and shore up treatment for people dealing with mental health and substance abuse problems. That money, she said, would reduce the need for additional jail cells.

The most effective way to provide such care is not in a correctional setting, Byrd said. The county already is not providing enough care for people who are jailed, she said, and even if it could, providing such care in a traumatic setting such as a jail diminishes the treatment’s effectiveness and often does more harm than good.

“We don’t believe that mental health treatment and substance abuse treatment are appropriate for the jail setting,” Byrd said.

In addition, she said, building a new structure will not generate additional money, which will be needed annually to provide the kind of programming that addresses underlying issues, reduces recidivism and prevents people from falling into the criminal justice system for reasons that have little to do with crime.

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“We just need to divest from cages and invest in care,” Byrd said.

City Council member Isabel Piedmont-Smith, too, said the county should address the long-term challenges at the same time it addresses the conditions faced by the current inmates.

“We should have done something 10 or 12 years ago,” she said.

City Council member Matt Flaherty said beyond excluding city officials from its community justice study committee, the county also has not involved people who have spent time in jail, at least not to the extent he thinks they should.

Both Piedmont-Smith and Flaherty urged county officials to reconsider sites in the city. Both mentioned the property earmarked for Catalent.

Kaisa Goodman, public engagement director for the administration of Mayor John Hamilton, said while the mayor has intentionally not weighed in on what is a complicated issue, the administration believes keeping the services downtown “is really critical.”

She also said the county should prioritize public health services and prevention, as well as services for current inmates.

“We need to address the immediate public health crisis … instead of just discussing the physical structure,” she said.

Challenges with rebuilding at current site

Cockerill, the county attorney, acknowledged many questions, including about costs, remain unanswered. He said that’s primarily because many of those questions cannot be answered before the county has secured an architectural/engineering partner.

He said some of the proposals that have been floated, including refurbishing the current facility, present enormous logistical and monetary challenges. It’s unclear, for example, where the inmates would be housed — and at what cost — if the county decided to rebuild the existing facility.

Commissioner President Julie Thomas said the current facility is so decrepit that even attempting to refurbish it would be a “lose, lose, lose proposition” for staff, inmates and county taxpayers.

She said the facility is wracked by structural problems that cause flooding and leakage of sewage into judges’ offices.

“You’re not working with a lot there that can be fixed or remediated,” she told city council members in December.

Cockerill said county officials rejected some sites in the county for the same reasons that city officials rejected the Fullerton site, including distance to the courts and lack of public transit. Other sites came with additional hindrances, including lack space and/or utility connections.

“We looked at a lot of different sites,” he said.

In addition, Cockerill said, county officials also want to make a decision not just for the lifespan of the next structure but for the decades after, meaning commissioners would like to find a site that has ample space for expansion, whether for jail cells, programming or other services that could be provided in the future.

Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Monroe County stakeholders seek more input into new jail location