County Facilities Meeting and Jail Discussion

County Board member Mike Ingram highlighted a couple opportunities for the public to learn more and get more involved with criminal justice issues in the City of Champaign and County. The County opportunity involves the County Facilities Committee meeting this Tuesday, June 4th (agenda here) which includes: "County Jail Consolidation Discussion with Sheriff Dustin Heuerman and Staff."

The Champaign County Jail issue has evolved over time. Currently there are two jail facilities. One is the downtown jail that is seriously outdated and which many would prefer to close. The other is known as the satellite jail and is next door to the Brooken's Administrative building. The newly elected County Board toured the facilities and observed the challenges facing both facilities in March. Excerpt from the News-Gazette coverage here:

Champaign County's new sheriff and new county board leadership have begun the process of addressing the needs of an aging jail built in 1980 and a second jail, built in 1996, that is bursting at the seams to meet modern needs.

On Tuesday, Sheriff Dustin Heuerman and his staff led the board's facilities committee on a tour of the downtown and satellite jails.

The visit was billed as the first step in helping the county respond to ongoing needs at the two facilities.

Off and on, the possible closure of the older downtown site and the renovation and expansion of the other site have been discussed...

Jail staff said the rise of gun violence, gangs and people with mental health issues have created modern challenges perhaps not anticipated when the satellite facility was built.

Full article here. All recent jail posts here. Previous jail debates have often involved concerns about expanding jail spaces versus programs that could serve the community as an alternative to mass incarceration. Some steps have already begun lowering jail populations locally, such as bail reform and quashing warrants over fines. For a while now there has been a focus on an expansion for services needed among the jail population as opposed to expanding the jail population itself. From a post on the May 2019 Champaign County Reentry Council:

Mark Driscoll, staff member of the Champaign County Mental Health Board / Developmental Disabilities Board, passed out flyers for the Salvation Army's reentry program for employment and training. Click image to the right to enlarge.

He also talked about a program providing training for inmates at the Champaign County Jail. Our Jail had been the first to open their doors to the program. There was some discussion about presentations on the program for the local Drug Court as well as through CCHCC. I will update with more specifics as I find out more.

In the report on the Jail, there was talk about the limited facility space (and a bit of a flooding calamity for the new staff who managed to make it work in spite of the issue). They said they're seeing all sorts of, what sounded like, positive results, with the additional staff. There was a discussion with the facilitator and CCHCC's Lenhoff about the seriousness of the facility space limitations limiting the ability to deliver services.

In what will certainly raise skepticism among local jail expansion proponents, Lenhoff explained that she believes there is confusion between previous jail expansion plans and the current ones. Previous plans were derided as wanting more cells with less concern on why they should be filled. She explained current expansion ideas are geared towards space to provide services, not in place of services before reaching jail, but to ensure that those who are in that situation have all the necessary service options. "There should be no wrong door" for people to seek services. She explained that sometimes incarceration is the point where services are needed and wanted most.

That full Cheat Sheet post here. Having toured the satellite jail myself, I got the very real impression that the safety of both jail staff and inmates in need of services were difficult under the current configuration. There are logistical issues that get complicated with the mental health needs and seriously dangerous inmates who must also be separated. This will become even more complicated without a downtown jail to help with those logistics, and it appears most agree that getting that aging facility up to current legal requirements isn't a realistic option.

Regardless of your politics or views on the issue, this meeting will probably lay out some facts on the ground that people will have to deal with in finding a solution.


[Correction: In the original version of this post the day of the week was correct, but the date was wrong. The date for the meeting has been corrected.]