The current jail has a litany of problems, according to a 2020 study by the Monroe County Board of Commissioners.
(Seth Tackett, WFIU/WTIU)
Monroe County commissioners say they’re back to the drawing board in their effort to find a location for a new county jail following a unanimous vote last month by Bloomington City Council members to reject their request to build the facility on the city’s southwest side.
The county has a daunting task at hand: deciding on a plan for a facility that will address the litany of problems at the existing facility laid out in a 2020 study.
“One part of the process is starting from square one,” said commissioner Julie Thomas. “We are going to be looking at other parcels in the county, outside the city as a potential space for the facility.”
Thomas said the challenge is not as simple as finding a new space; the county is also looking toward comprehensive reform.
“This reform is going to encapsulate every part of the system,” she said.” It's not just a building, it's the process and all of the inner steps and mental health and substance use disorder, and how we can bring all these things together successfully to address all of these needs at one time. So, this is a huge project."
The county’s goals include crisis intervention treatment as well as preventing incarceration and recidivism.
“There are a lot of models out there that can help us understand a good way to approach all of these decisions that have to be made,” Thomas said. “But we are all reliant on one another to continue for progress — and I wouldn’t say that’s an obstacle, but that makes the process slower. We walk a fine line between moving too quickly and paralysis by analysis.
Meanwhile, commissioners and other county officials involved in the decision-making process are struggling to find common ground.
Those tensions were apparent at the most recent meeting of the Community Justice Response Committee (CJRC), which consists of county council members, county commissioners, circuit court judges, the prosecutor, a public defender, the sheriff, a jail commander and the health administrator.
A point of disagreement at that meeting was whether the commissioners had been involving the rest of the committee in some discussions.
County Council President Kate Wiltz was among several members who felt the commissioners had not been transparent with their counterparts. Specifically, she said they had not given other committee members advance notice on a research trip they took to Arizona to visit jails there.
“There is a huge decision to be made, and we get that. It is your decision. It's dependent on good information and good input as well as a collaborative process of discussing that input and a mutual understanding of your responsibility,” Wiltz said. “County Council needs to be on board with your decision, and it's frustrating to not feel as though our lane is appreciated, so to speak.”
To that, commissioner Lee Jones replied, “I think it’s simply a matter of we haven’t reached your lane.”
Jones continued, “We have been meeting for quite some time and don’t actually seem to have made much progress at all. We see the situation at the jail as being really very dire, and we're trying to move ahead with it as quickly as we possibly can. We are not trying to cut out anyone's ideas or opinions.”
Committee members also noted they have yet to gather enough input from the community, law enforcement, and inmates and their families — something Thomas said is a work in progress.
How is the city involved?
Thomas said the city plays a crucial role in the process, particularly when it comes to surveying law enforcement. Most of the respondents are likely to be Bloomington city police, as they’ll likely use the facility more than any other police force, she said.
“We definitely are going to be talking to the city, city government, businesses, residents (about) you know, ‘How is this going to impact you?’” Thomas said.
When the city council rejected the county’s request to build a new jail in city limits, councilwoman Sue Sgambelluri said some planning issues could have been avoided if the county had included the city in conversations from the beginning. That point was reiterated at last week’s CJRC meeting.
“Involving the city at this stage would be invaluable,” Wiltz said. “It was pretty apparent to me at the city council meeting that it was a concern of city council members that they hadn't been involved, and that in part swayed their votes. So, we could have a property already under wraps at this point.”
City councilwoman Isabel Piedmont-Smith also touched on that point when the floor was opened to public comment.
“Just reflecting on what has occurred in the last seven months, I think some problems could have been avoided if the city had been more involved,” she said. “So I am hopeful that we can be part of the conversation, and not only through emailing the committee, but through active engagement.”
What sites are under consideration?
Although the commissioners have made it clear they intend to build the jail outside Bloomington’s city limits, there’s currently no consensus on any viable alternatives.
Other sites that were proposed at last week’s meeting were a parcel of land south of the Catalent plant and the site of IU Health Bloomington Hospital.
Commissioners say both options are currently off the table.
The city has its own plans for the former hospital site, and there are several issues standing in the way of using the land south of Catalent for a new jail, Thomas said. Some of those issues can be overcome, but since the time the county purchased that land, there has been a significant amount of residential development.
“There's a lot or a lot more residents in that area. It’s not surrounded by other empty fields,” Thomas said. “That really makes it no longer ideal for that the kind of use that folks are thinking about in terms of a detention facility or treatment facility, whatever it is we might do.”
Jones emphasized that deciding on a location is the most urgent matter at hand.
“I think we could move forward a lot more quickly if we would realize that things will take place in their time. And at this moment what we need to do is find a location,” she said.
The CJRC is scheduled to reconvene on Jan. 23.
Thomas encouraged anyone with suggestions or feedback to the committee to email its members at CJRC@co.monroe.in.us.
