Jail Updates

Jail consolidation was discussed at this week's County Facilities Committee meeting (jail consolidation discussion begins at the 11 minute mark). Video of the meeting is temporarily available in the buffer on the County's live streaming page, available on the County Clerk's YouTube channel when posted here. The agenda packet here includes a letter from the County Sheriff starting on page 5 of the packet (page 6 of the PDF file) that explains the current situation of the jails and needs. He explains the situation and needs in relation to desired criminal justice reforms that could further reduce the jail population.

The full letter is worth the read, but below are a couple excerpts starting with a brief assessment:

He also gave a brief overview of potential options being considered, or at least likely to be considered by the County Board:

Full letter available here (page 5 of the packet, page 6 of the PDF file). The Sheriff discussed the letter and explained that this list wasn't all inclusive and more thoughts at the 21 minute mark of the video.

A worthwhile highlight was at the 31 minute mark with a question by County Board Member Dr. Charles Young on comparing to other counties and jail facilities. The Sheriff wasn't able to point to a perfectly similar situation, but he did go over several other scenarios faced elsewhere. He also pointed out that if the worst case scenario forced them to close the downtown jail immediately, what the hurdles would be in finding space for inmates in surrounding areas such as Piatt County. The very next question and answer continued to helped explain some of the logistical situations with keeping inmates with special needs separated and safe.

At the 55 minute mark the chairman and members of the committee clarified where they ended: approving (by a general sense of the committee) getting more information on a compromise plan similar to the Sheriff's #2 option in his letter, but with more flexible housing to offset logistical concerns. It would still have even fewer beds than the full Reifstack study. The goal being to get a solid plan for the board to approve by this summer (possibly as early as June) to move forward. Then there would be a further need for a referendum for the public to approve it.

The next Facilities meeting will be March 3rd.


Background Information:

Below is a little background that could help constituents understand where everyone is coming from in this meeting. The discussion revolved around a jail consolidation study that was recently updated and discussed by the full County Board in October. From a previous Cheat Sheet post:

The Board didn't vote to approve any jail plan at this meeting, the agenda item being changed to "discussion only" on an the addendum. WILL had a nice overview of the Jail issue that night:

An updated proposal for county jail consolidation was brought before the full Champaign County Board for the first time Thursday night. Now county board members must decide how to deal with both a pressing need --- and a daunting price tag.

The plan, from Reifsteck Reid, the firm of Champaign architect Charles Reifsteck, is an update of a previous plan presented to the county board in 2015. As outlined by Reifsteck at Thursday night’s meeting, the plan calls for closing the rundown jail and sheriff’s office built in the 1980’s in downtown Urbana. The 1990’s satellite jail in east Urbana would renovated and expanded to replace the downtown jail’s capacity and the sheriff’s offices. In addition, its design would allow flexibility in separating inmate populations and providing space for inmate visitations and programs.

County board members are trying to come to grips with its cost: $47 million (compared to $32 million for the 2015 jail plan) to close the rundown jail and sheriff’s office in downtown Urbana, and enlarge and modernize the newer satellite jail. The rebuilt jail’s capacity would be 283 inmates, twelve less than the two present jails.

Full article here with some brief perspectives and takes. A more detailed presentation of the plan is available at this Cheat Sheet post.

The full Cheat Sheet post on that October County Board meeting is available here.