The Monroe County Council unanimously voted “no” Tuesday to funding the nearly $11.38-million purchase of the North Park site for the new Monroe County Jail.
After a nearly six-hour meeting, council members were unwilling to move forward due to high community opposition to the site. Opponents said moving the jail away from downtown would hurt accessibility and local businesses, and that the proposed jail is too big. Council members also weighed the high costs associated with the project.
The council and Monroe County Board of Commissioners previously approved the site last year.
The current jail building, the Charlotte Zietlow Justice Center, was built in 1985. In 2008, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office, citing unconstitutional conditions in the jail, including overcrowding, that led to inmates sleeping on the gym floor.
Monroe County and the ACLU agreed on a private settlement with the jail to decrease its inmate count. In 2021, an independent report found the jail had “exceeded its structural and functional life cycle.” The study reported a list of failings in the current jail, including security and overcrowding concerns. It recommended the county move forward with reevaluating renovations or possibly building a new jail, which the report said would be a more cost-effective option than remodeling the existing building.
The project has stalled in recent years due to cost and location concerns. The original hard construction cost estimate for a new jail was $80.9 million, with a more comprehensive estimate from the DLZ Corporation placing costs at $237 million. The proposed jail would increase capacity from the current facility’s 294 beds to around 500.
Members from local advocacy group Care Not Cages attended the council meeting to lobby against further action toward constructing the jail. The group also discussed several issues with the jail in a panel Sunday.
These issues include complaints that jail construction money could be better used to fund recidivism reduction programs focusing on issues like drug abuse and mental health.
“We believe our community is better served by the things that our community needs, rather than building more projects and more cages for people,” Cathleen Paquet, a Care Not Cages member, said at the council meeting.
The proposed jail location is north of Bloomington at the northwest corner of I‐69 and State Road 46, an area not serviced by public transit.
“You're doubling down on suburbanizing county government outside of the city,” Zach Ammerman, a Bloomington resident, said during the meeting. “People like me that get around primarily by bike or public transit would not be able to access county government.”
Eric Spoonmore, president and CEO of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce, echoed the concerns and highlighted the importance of foot traffic the jail brings for downtown businesses.
“There's no plan for the reuse of the existing justice building in downtown Bloomington,” Spoonmore said.
Members of the county council also found the cost of the jail unreasonable in light of current uncertainty over the future county budget.
“Part of that money goes to Bloomington Transit, it could go to the public libraries and it could go to the townships,” Councilmember Marty Hawk said. “That is our job, to make sure that we don't hit 2028 and put ourselves in such a bind that we can't move forward. We have to look at long range.”
Monroe County Council President Jennifer Crossley agreed.
“It's just really tone-deaf right now for us to continue to try to appropriate this much money after going through a rigorous amount of hell when it came to budget," Crossley said.
Yet among the many issues with the current jail, the need for new facilities remains clear to Monroe County Sheriff’s Office jail commander Kyle Gibbons.
“We've talked about the same thing, and I have the walls literally caving in inside the facility right now,” Gibbons said. “I'm not saying we need a super jail. I'm not saying we need to spend millions on a property. What I am saying is this is not sustainable.”
CORRECTION: This story was updated to reflect the correct location of the proposed jail site.
