BLOOMINGTON — Monroe County Commissioners received a clear message from residents near Vernal Pike regarding a proposed site for a new county jail: "We don’t want it here."
Dozens of people showed up to a public input meeting on Sunday. It comes after commissioners voted to delay approving a purchasing agreement for one of the potential sites of a new county jail and community justice facility.
"Nobody would say, hey, build a jail in my backyard," said commissioners president Julie Thomas. "Nobody would say that, but, it has to go somewhere. Right now, it's in a lot of people's backyards and nobody really talks about it."
Many residents, like retired veteran Sheryl Langdon, have concerns over how the jail would create safety, traffic, and environmental impacts.
"Why would I want this neighborhood to change it's legacy when so many people love it?" Langdon said.
Langdon encouraged many of her neighbors to attend the input meeting and to sign forms voicing opposition to the project. When asked for a show of hands of who supports the jail site being Vernal Pike, no one in attendance showed support.
"I know there are more residents close by to this site than there are the North Park site actually living right on the doorstep of where we building," Thomas said. "I kind of knew that going in, and that always bothered me a lot, but really, we wanted them to know where we were in the process. If folks that are here today and said we want this, I would be thinking about it differently too, but we need to hear that from people."
Thomas said she and her two fellow commissioners already had a preference for the other proposed site, North Park, whih is off of State Road 46.
"There are no issues with topography with the North Park site," Thomas said. "There are no slopes, and, it is by far, as our person who does this work said, the best property for building on this site."
Additionally, Thomas noted there are not many residents living right near the North Park site, and that the developer of the land expressed interest in working with nearby neighbors to bring other amenities near the property.
Connectivity is also a big attraction to the North Park property, Thomas said, as the site has a direct link to State Road 46 and can reach Interstate 69 in a matter of minutes. Thomas also noted the property has plenty of breathing room for future expansion, if needed, and would have enough space to co-house court offices and drug treatment programs.
A works session is scheduled for Oct. 22 with county commissioners, councilors and sheriff staff expected to be in attendance. The meeting will be open to the public.
WHERE DOES THE JAIL PROJECT STAND?
Debate over the future Monroe County Jail has been back and forth for over a year.
The jail currently operates under a 2009 settlement from a lawsuit by the ACLU, which claimed the crowded conditions at the jail are unconstitutional.
As part of the settlement, which has been extended numerous times, the county must build a new jail.
There have been countless security incidents inside the jail.
In June, two inmates already in the jail for violent crimes, were charged with escaping their cell and beating fellow inmate to the point he had to be sent to the hospital.
In September, a gas leak forced the start of the facility’s evacuation plan, putting inmates on lockdown until the leak was fixed.
In July at a joint meeting, Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté warned county councilors and commissioners that the jail is at it’s breaking point.
“The staff at this point is at a maximum of what they do right now, and they are tired,” Marté said. We all want a clean, safe, and humane jail.”
In May, a jail feasibility study conducted by Fishers-based engineering consulting firm, RQAW, suggested that the county build a new facility that could house 450-500 beds while also having space available for future expansion.
The current jail fits 258 beds, but after classification of inmates, puts the jail threshold at 206. The original jail capacity was 128 beds before transitioning to a double-bunk system in the 1990s.
INTIAL PLANS FOR A NEW JAIL
According to the jail feasibility report, a new Monroe County Jail would cost upwards of $99-million for design, construction, and furniture expenses. Should plans call for a facility that would also house courtrooms, the prosecutors office, and probation department, the total cost could reach upwards of $150-million.
