The county-owned former Thomson property on Bloomington's southwest side.
(WFIU/WTIU News)
Monroe County officials seem to agree: a new county jail should be built at the former Thomson property on Bloomington’s southwest side. The property is across Rogers Street from Switchyard Park and near the RCA Community Playground.
The county commissioners say they want to further research the county-owned property as a potential site for a new jail — an important, but not a final step toward deciding where to build the facility.
That was the topic of a Tuesday joint meeting of the Monroe County Council and Board of Commissioners. Sheriff Ruben Marté, who supports building the jail at the Thomson site, was also present.
“The restriction that we have now is size; we just don’t have the space to do what we know we could do,” Marté said. “The size of the Thomson site provides that to us.”
Ruben Marté (Courtesy of Community Access Television Services)
Marté also said the Thomson site has the potential to house services such as a treatment center — something he talked about in greater detail at a meeting the night before.
“If our goal is to actually help people before they get to the facility, then we need to have the tools to do that,” Marté said. “This location, in my mind, is the best location.”
County Attorney Jeff Cockerill, who represents the commissioners, said the next steps will entail surveying nearby residents, getting appraisals and completing geotechnical research.
To date, DLZ has reviewed four sites: the Thomson property, the former site of the Indiana University Health Bloomington Hospital now known as the Hopewell neighborhood, and two sites outside city limits along the I-69 corridor.
The firm said it may be possible to move court services to the Thomson site along with a new jail.
Officials have often spoken about potentially co-locating such services on the same site as the jail. That was a key theme of a meeting earlier this month in which commissioners gathered Bloomington City Council members’ feedback on potential jail sites.
All four council members at that meeting indicated their preference for Thomson as the new jail site over Hopewell.
Penny Githens, the president of the Board of Commissioners, said Bloomington City Council President Sue Sgambelluri told her the council generally agrees that the jail should be built at Thomson if located within city limits.
Monroe Circuit Court Judge Mary Ellen Diekhoff said the board of judges most wants the new jail to be as close as possible to court services.
“Thomson of these options seems to be the best,” Diekhoff said. “It’s still going to be close to service providers, it’s closer to downtown, it’s in a place that we can be — as I understand it — we can eventually be co-located there.”
Mary Ellen Diekhoff (Courtesy of Community Access Television Services)
If the county decides to co-locate other services with the jail, it is unclear what that process would look like.
Deputy Prosecutor April Wilson expressed a similar opinion during the public comment section of the meeting. She said the prosecutor’s office hopes co-location of transportation and proximity to services is a priority.
“Separation of courts, attorney offices, probation, or any other place where a defendant is required to report creates new barriers to participation,” Wilson said. “These obstacles will not only be shared by our parties, but by the victims, victim support networks and defendant support networks.”
April Wilson (Courtesy of Community Access Television Services)
Wilson added that separating those offices may result in negative fiscal impacts because of the repeated transportation of inmates to and from court, for example.
Wendi Goodlett, CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County, also spoke during the public comment period. She said Habitat is currently building homes at Osage Place, an income-restricted housing development just south of the Thomson site.
“The decision of where to place a jail is extremely difficult and could have unintended consequences if it is misplaced,” Goodlett said. “Building a jail on the Thomson property would once again marginalize the families that we have all worked so hard to uplift.”
Wendi Goodlett (Courtesy of Community Access Television Services)
Goodlett said that of the homes being built, six families have begun paying on their mortgages. There will be 69 families living in Osage Place once construction is complete.
“(The jail) will be a concrete, daily reminder that they are vulnerable,” Goodlett said. “We would not be having this conversation if that county-owned land was adjacent to a wealthy neighborhood.”
County council members and commissioners alike said they want to commit to reaching out to Osage Place residents before deciding what to do with the Thomson site.
