Shortly after the beginning of the year, three Monroe County commissioners went to see prison facilities in Arizona.

The trip was in connection with the work of the Community Legal Response Committee (CJRC), a group set up by the Commissioner to deal with the work of two consultants who were released to the county government about 20 months ago. I was.

The report described Monroe County prisons as having “well beyond their structural and functional lifecycles,” noting that current prisons do not meet constitutional standards of care.

At the CJRC’s first meeting of the year, shortly after the Arizona field trip, other committee members expressed frustration at the commissioner’s lack of heads-up on their trip. One source of complaints: other members of the committee could have sent specific questions if they had known.

The commissioner said he would report to other commission members on what he saw in Arizona. Several subsequent committee meetings were so controversial that the report on the trip to Arizona wasn’t addressed until Monday.

County Assemblyman Jennifer Crossley is a member of the CJRC. As Crossley said at the commission on Monday, “This seemed like the moment we were all waiting for…”

Commissioners Penny Gissens, Julie Thomas and Lee Jones described three facilities they visited in Arizona. One in Maricopa County, another he in Yavapai County and a third in Pima County.

Crisis response facilities in Pima County, Tucson, were the driving force behind the trip, Gisens said at a meeting Monday.

The Pima County Crisis Response Center is primarily run by Connections Health Solutions, a private health care company. Gissens explained that the crisis response center was built at the county’s expense on a campus he opened in 2011.

Githens said the crisis response center has direct access to the medical center. There is an inpatient mental health center on the same property, Githens added.

The Tucson Police Department can take people to a crisis response center, and typically is in and out within five minutes, Githens said. Gisens continued by stating that anyone who arrives will be evaluated very quickly and a decision may be made to admit or refer someone to a medical center.

A major difference between Tucson’s Crisis Response Center and Monroe County’s Stride Center is the presence of mental health facilities where those who arrive at the center can be admitted.

CJRC member and circuit court judge Katherine Stafford describes a similar hypothetical facility in Monroe County as “essentially a state mental health hospital, but perhaps more functional and community-based.” characterized.

Stafford wanted to know what the next steps would be to determine whether Monroe County would be able to pay for the local psychiatric hospital and the like.

At Monday’s meeting, the committee did not have a clear answer to Stafford’s question. County Councilman Peter Iversen mentioned two of his bills pending. These laws may help some, but they don’t address the whole problem.those invoices SB1 and HB1006.

Overall, Monday’s CJRC meeting was less controversial than some previous meetings.

However, dissatisfaction with the way previous meetings unfolded remained the topic of some public commentary.

NAACP Monroe County Chapter President McBerry Rees revisited some of the themes of statements made at the last CJRC meeting by Nicole Bolden, who addressed the committee as president of the Monroe County Black Democratic Caucus .

“We cannot but express our disgust and dissatisfaction with the disrespectful treatment of Alderman Jennifer Crossley and Sheriff Ruben Marte at the CJRC meeting,” Reese told the committee on Monday. I don’t get it,” he said.

As the only people of color on the committee, Reese said, Crossley and Marte “have plenty to deal with outside of this space just because of their skin color.” Reese described the disrespectful treatment, which included “rude tone and comments, microaggressions, derogatory body language, and gaslighting by Commissioners Penny Gissens and Lee Jones.”

This “stands squarely against the spirit of collaboration that is supposed to be evident in this kind of setting,” Reese said.

Scheduled for later this week at the county commission’s Wednesday morning meeting is a vote on the selection of a design-build firm to handle the basic plans and final design of the prison.

After reviewing the responses to the Request for Proposals (RFQ), the committee recommended DLZ to be selected from among the three companies that responded to design and build the prison.

The RFQ Review Board consisted of the following members: David Gardner, ASI Facility Services Contractor. Lee Baker, county attorney. Kyle Gibbons, prison warden. Matt Demings, Assistant Warden. Angie Purdy, the Commissioner’s Administrator.

The RFQ process was mentioned for public comment at the CJRC meeting on Monday. Seth Mutchler noted that the text of his RFQ issued by the county states:

Mutschler said a presentation was made but not open to the public. Mutschler has asked the commissioner to delay a vote on the choice of prison design firm.

“Today, I have an opportunity to be considered by both civil servants and civil servants, and call on county commissioners not to vote for any design firm until there is consensus on next steps,” Mutschler said. .