MONROE COUNTY, Ind. — The plan for a new jail and justice center in Monroe County is on hold.
All seven of the county councilors voted against an additional $3 million appropriation to buy the land where the complex would be housed. That would have brought the total land cost to $11 million. Council members also agreed to stop paying the architectural firm and for their services related to the project.
The county council meeting, which lasted for more than seven hours, sparked passionate public comment and disappointment from representatives of the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, who are currently housed in the Charlotte Zietlow Justice Center in downtown Bloomington.
On top of mold issues, Sheriff Marté said in the past that the design of the facility makes day-to-day operations a challenge.
“Based on our conversations and a lawsuit with the ACLU, it does not allow for constitutional care for the inmates,” Council President Pro Temore Peter Iverson said.
Renderings of the proposed jail and justice center off of State Road 46 and Hunter Valley Road were released just two months ago. The model was drawn up to be more than double the size of the current justice center.
“We don’t need a new jail at all,” Care Not Cages organizer Seth Mutchler said. “We should instead be prioritizing things like mental health care, substance use care and affordable housing.”
The complex would have cost about a quarter billion dollars. Councilors blame a property tax law for them now not being able to pay up.
“It all goes back to Senate Bill 1,” Crossley said. “It all goes back to what our state lawmakers are forcing local government and municipalities to do, which is live within our means, and again, this project was not within our means.”
The decision is a relief for many who believe moving the jail out of downtown Bloomington would be a huge hit to the local economy. Sydney Zulich, who represents District 6 for the Bloomington City Council, read a letter on behalf of the city council that said the location of the proposed justice center would make it harder for people to access services that would be housed in the space.
“The site’s location has no plans for public transportation and thus, low-income residents will be directly affected without alternative means of transportation,” Zulich said.
On the other hand, the vote couldn’t be a bigger letdown for local law enforcement.
“I can tell you right now that the stress level of the people that are working in the jail right now are off the charts,” Marté said in Tuesday’s meeting. “ … A good portion of you took a tour of the jail. Do we really want to go back?”
Construction of the justice center was supposed to start in about a year. Council members said they are now back to the drawing board, looking at other locations that could be a better fit and figuring out if they could revamp the current jail or shift funds to services that could help with overcrowding in the downtown justice center.
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