After a year of study, Pima County officials aren't ready to pay for a new jail.
Issued by Pima County Executive Jean Lescher. Memorandum February 13th In response to the final report of the Pima County Adult Detention Center Blue Ribbon Commission. In his memo, Lesher acknowledged problems with prison overcrowding and “aging key infrastructure systems.”
But Lesher is not advocating building new prisons, at least for now.
Lesher told Arizona Luminaria in a Feb. 13 email: There has been no official statement from the county prior to that. ”
The Pima County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to discuss this memo and the Blue Ribbon Commission's final report at its regular meeting on Tuesday, February 20th. You can join in person or online.
“I do not support a new prison at this time,” Lesher added.
Stephanie Madero-Piña, a community member who lost her husband and nephew in prison, also volunteers. No deaths in prison, a group opposed to new prisons. Maderopiña said she “cried with joy” when she heard the news that the county is not currently supporting the construction of a new jail.
“I'm very happy and happy. I'm very grateful to No Jail Deaths. And I'm very grateful to the oversight committee.”
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos responded to questions about Lesher's memo via email on Feb. 13.
“MS. I understand Mr. Lesher's desire for more information, and I hate any delays, but I didn't expect things to happen overnight,” he said.
“This is a big project with big challenges,” Nanos continued. “I will continue to work with the commission and county administrator to complete this as quickly as possible.”
Further research
In an email response, Lescher also wrote that she wanted to move quickly to obtain a cost estimate to address deferred maintenance and ensure basic safety and security within the prison. .
“There were reports that the prison was about to fall on someone's head,” Lesher told Arizona Luminaria. “We wanted to know where we were in a series of collapses and deferred maintenance. That was the mandate of the first committee.”
She said she was pleased with the work of the all-volunteer committee, but wished it had moved sooner.
“I believe we can simultaneously get people to seriously consider what they can do to reduce the prison population,” Lesher said. “We also believe that addressing changes in both the physical building and the policies and programs will be costly, which is why we need someone to evaluate and recommend funding mechanisms.”
In his memo, Lesher agreed with four of the committee's recommendations and emphasized the need to:
- “High-level feasibility study begins'' regarding current state of prisons
- Consider additional funding for correctional health services contracts to enhance medical, dental, and behavioral health services in prisons.
- Establishes a new committee to consider possible improvements, including lower bed capacity than anticipated by the committee and specific programmatic recommendations to reduce the prison population.
- Creates a “County Finance Working Group” to further examine county funding sources for jails and other “significant capital and infrastructure needs.”
The commission's final report, first released Feb. 6 after nearly a year of work, includes four final options for the county, two of which were deemed unfeasible. . The two viable options were to renovate the main part of the prison and to build a new 1,132-bed housing unit for him at a price of $623 million. Or build an entirely new 3,162-bed prison at a cost of $858 million. The commission predicted that the prison population could increase by more than 1,000 people over the next 20 years.
“Coupled with increasing deficiencies and constraints in facility infrastructure systems, it is clear that the facility has significant capacity issues,” Rescher said in a memo about the key findings.
But instead of building bigger prisons, Lesher said, in order to alleviate overcrowding and reduce overall prison populations, criminals are looking for opportunities to “address sentencing policy, gaps, and alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders.” He emphasized the need to “examine the judicial system.” ”
Lesher said he doesn't want to focus solely on “funding the status quo.”
“New to me doesn't mean new buildings. But how are we treating people?” He noted that he had seen multiple health care providers over the past 20 years.
“We need to take the time to look at that model and ask ourselves what it is we're doing,” Rescher said.
“The system is not working well, so let's just give the money away. We need to think about how we can make sure that people coming out of prison have at least some handover. What should I do? How will I receive ongoing services and medical care?”
community partnership
Lesher also noted the importance of “facilitating community partnerships to support post-release reintegration.” Such partnerships are “essential to successful rehabilitation,” Lesher wrote.
The commission acknowledged the inherent limitations of prison population projections and agreed in its final report that additional reviews were needed to better inform the numbers and work to reduce them. . To do so, Lesher's memo states, “the county will need stakeholder participation from the criminal justice system, law enforcement agencies, health care providers, and other social service network providers.”
Regarding the condition of the facility, the memo states that the county has spent more than $6.8 million in repairs and maintenance over the past six years. “There is no regular, dedicated funding source for prison improvements.” The approved fiscal year 2024 budget includes about $1.04 million for prison repairs and maintenance.
Madero Piña, an anti-death-in-prison activist, said she believes reducing the prison population should be a priority.
“We need more mental health and social services. We need to get people healthy and we need funding for programs,” she said. “They say they have programs inside the prisons, but they're underfunded. That's where our tax dollars should go.”
“There's nothing to be gained by locking people up in cages,” she added.
