Jail Consolidation Updates

The latest news on the County jail situation includes a jail consolidation plan that would add space for programs, mental health, separation, and safety measures. The plan as it stands now would, however, reduce the overall prisoner capacity and beds. Proponents argue that the current facilities are dangerous, not up to current regulations, and limit the programs needed to reduce recidivism and treat mental health issues among the inmate population. Criticisms range from the price tag, the County budget crunch, the opposition to increased property taxes, to local activists wanting a stronger commitment to programs outside of the criminal justice system. Opponents of mass incarceration are demanding a vision that prevents the reliance on the criminal justice system for programs and mental health care in the first place.

There was a presentation of the latest revised jail consolidation plan at last month's County Facilities Meeting (available here on the County Clerk's YouTube Channel). This is an update to a previous study from 2014 (video presentation of the Master Plan based on that study in 2015 here with their slides here).

The News-Gazette had an overview of the plan last week here:

Voters may get say on Champaign County's $47 million-plus plan to consolidate jails
Voters may get a chance to weigh in on a $47 million-plus proposal to move the Champaign County Jail out of its deteriorating downtown Urbana building and consolidate operations at the satellite jail at 502 S. Lierman Ave.

The county board’s facilities committee endorsed the jail consolidation proposal last week, and the full county board will consider it next.

If the county board wants to move forward with this project, county Executive Darlene Kloeppel said the board’s finance committee would begin looking at ways to pay for it, and a referendum question could be placed before the voters — possibly next year...

If the project moves ahead, architectural and engineering studies would need to be done along with a plan to transition the prisoners, and bids would need to be sought for construction work at the satellite.

The two jail facilities together have a capacity for 295 prisoners, and the proposal to consolidate at the satellite would call for a bit smaller capacity of 283 prisoners, Kloeppel said.

That’s because it’s not a need for more prisoner beds that is driving this project, but a host of safety issues.

More at the full article here (additional coverage of the meeting here). County Board member Mike Ingram took issue with the article's depiction of the price tag since it could vary significantly depending on their upcoming decisions and timelines. Here's an excerpt from his County Board facebook page:

This article is dangerously misleading, so it's probably important that we all discuss a couple of things.

That oft-mentioned $47mil price tag is a nonstarter. The company that did this newest study (more money spent, yes) did the county the favor of making the presentation in an à la carte fashion (#1-16), with lower numbers indicating highest priority. This gives the board and the public the ability to weigh in on what they think is important and make choices based on that. If we did literally every single moonshot and pipe-dream idea in the whole presentation, it would cost $47mil...

An amount of money is going to have to be spent. What that amount is and on what kinds of things is where people need to be getting involved. If the words "restorative justice" have ever been on your lips, here's a chance to drive the conversation. I believe this discussion will be at the 10/24 full board meeting at 6:30pm at Champaign County Brookens Administrative Center. Tell your friends.

He had additional links and information at that post here. The News-Gazette editorial board, generally loath to support any kind of tax increases and critical of government spending argued the necessity for the consolidation and improvements, but noted the difficulty in garnering support for a way to pay for it given the budget woes at the County government. That Sunday Editorial is available here. Excerpt:

County officials have had intermittent, but still long, conversations with voters about the conditions of the county jail for nearly four decades.

Circumstances have ranged from unacceptable, to overcrowded, to adequate and back to unacceptable again.

That’s why members of the county board and the sheriff are laying the groundwork for seeking voter approval of expensive plans to put the downtown jail out of commission and build an addition to the satellite facility in east Urbana.

The estimated total price is $47 million-plus, a cost that seems almost certain to rise. After all, look at the explosion in costs for the Champaign schools’ ongoing building and renovation work.

The question, unfortunately, is not whether the jail project needs to be done. It’s whether voters can abide taking another hit on their property taxes or some other tax on top of all the other tax and price hikes they’ve endured.

Previous Cheat Sheet Post on this topic here: County Jail Facilities Discussion (from June) and more Jail issue information available here.