After a year of study, Pima County officials are not ready to pay for a new jail.
Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher issued a memorandum Feb. 13 in response to the Pima County Adult Detention Center Blue Ribbon Commission’s final report. In the memo, Lesher acknowledged the jail’s issues with overcrowding and “deteriorating major infrastructure systems.”
But Lesher is not, at least now, advocating for a new jail.
Lesher told Arizona Luminaria in a Feb. 13 email, “The board will be considering this memo on Tuesday. Before that there is no official position of the county.”
The Pima County Board of Supervisors will discuss the memo and the Blue Ribbon Commission’s final report at their regular meeting Tuesday, Feb. 20, which can be attended either in person or online.
“I do not support a new jail at this time,” Lesher added.
Stephanie Madero-Piña, a community member whose husband and nephew both died in the jail, is also a volunteer with No Jail Deaths, an organization advocating against a new jail. “I cried with joy,” Madero-Piña said about hearing the news that the county is not currently advocating for a new jail.
“I’m overjoyed, I’m happy, I’m so thankful to No Jail Deaths and I’m so thankful for the Board of Supervisors.”
Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos responded to questions about Lesher’s memo via email on Feb. 13.
“Ms. Lesher’s request for more info is understandable and although I hate the delay, I never expected things to happen overnight,” he said.
“This is a big project with a big ask,” Nanos continued. “I will continue to work with the Board and County Administrator to get this done as quickly as possible.”
Further study
Lesher also wrote in her email response that she would like to move quickly to get an estimate of the cost to address deferred maintenance and ensure basic safety and security in the jail.
“We had reports that the jail was going to fall down on someone’s head,” Lesher told Arizona Luminaria. “I wanted to know where we were on the continuum of collapse and deferred maintenance. That was the charge of the first commission.”
She said she was satisfied with the work of the all-volunteer commission, but wishes it had gone faster.
“I believe that we could simultaneously have folks taking a serious look at what can be done to decrease the jail population,” Lesher said. “I also believe addressing changes in both the physical building and policies or programs will be costly, which is why we need people to evaluate and make a recommendation about a funding mechanism.”
In the memo Lesher agrees with four of the commission’s recommendations, and emphasized the need to:
- “Initiate a high-level feasibility study” on the current conditions of the jail
- Consider additional funding for the Correctional Health Services Contract to enhance medical, dental and behavioral health services in the jail
- Establish a new commission to consider possible improvement alternatives that explore a lower bed capacity than projected by the commission, as well as incorporating specific programmatic proposals to reduce jail populations.
- Create a “County Finance Working Group” to look further into county funding sources to go into the jail and other “large-scale capital and infrastructure needs.”
The commission’s final report, first published Feb. 6, after almost a year of work, included four final options for the county, two of which were deemed unfeasible. The two feasible options were renovating the main part of the jail and constructing a new 1,132-bed housing unit for the price of $623 million; or building an entirely new 3,162-bed jail for the price of $858 million. The commission projected that the jail population could increase in the next two decades by more than 1,000 people.
Under key findings, Lesher notes in her memo, “It is clear that the facility is experiencing significant capacity issues combined with mounting facility infrastructure system deficiencies and constraints.”
But instead of building a bigger jail, Lesher instead emphasized the need to look “at the criminal justice system for opportunities to address sentencing policies, gaps and alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders” in order to alleviate overcrowding and reduce the overall jail population.”
Lesher said that she doesn’t want to just focus on “funding the status quo.”
“New to me doesn’t mean a new building. But how are we treating people?” She referred to the for-profit medical provider, NaphCare, noting that the county has been through multiple medical providers in the last 20 years.
“We need to spend some time looking at that model and ask what we’re doing,” Lesher said.
“It’s not that the system is working great, let’s just give it money. We need to think: how do we ensure that people coming out of the jail have at least some access to warm handoff, how do they get ongoing services, healthcare, etc.?”
Community partnerships
Lesher also notes the importance of “fostering community partnerships to provide support for reintegration post-release.” Such partnerships, Lesher writes, are “vital for successful rehabilitation.”
The commission recognized the inherent limitations in its jail population projections, and concurred in their final report that additional review is needed to further inform those numbers and work to reduce them. To do that, Lesher’s memo notes, “the county would need participation from stakeholders from the criminal justice system, justice services, medical care providers and other social service network providers.”
As for the conditions of the facility, the memo notes that the county has spent more than $6.8 million over the past six years on repair and maintenance. “There is no recurring dedicated source of funding for improvements for the jail.” The approved budget for fiscal year 2024 includes about $1.04 million for jail repair and maintenance.
Madero-Piña, the No Jail Deaths activist, said that she thinks lowering the jail population should be the priority.
“We need more mental health and social services. We need to get people healthy and we need funding for the programs,” she said. “They say they have programs in the jail, but they’re underfunded. That’s where our tax money should go.”
“We don’t get any good by caging people,” she added.
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