A public survey measuring the public’s opinion about the possibility of building a new Pima County jail is set to go live Dec. 26, the day after Christmas.
The survey is being conducted by the Pima County Adult Detention Center Blue Ribbon Commission which, over the past year, has been studying the need and feasibility of building a new county jail.
The commission was formed in January of 2023, and began meeting last March, after Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos asked the board of commissioners to fund a new jail. Initial cost estimates are as high as $380 million dollars.
In August, the commission invited the public to a meeting to share opinions about the possibility of building a new jail. The meeting lasted only four minutes as community members expressed their vigorous opposition to a new jail.
In multiple Pima County Board of Supervisors meetings since then, more than a dozen members of the public have used their time during the call to audience session to reiterate their desire that public funds should be used for public health initiatives, housing, or other measures instead of in building a new jail.
The public survey will be open from Dec. 26 until Jan. 13.
UPDATE: The commission’s initial findings were released in a report on Dec. 22.
According to a letter written by Daniel Sharp, the chair of the commission, the initial findings are meant to inform the public of the “limited options” that the commission has found “to address the current real and growing needs of the facility.”
Sharp apologized to Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher in a Dec. 13 letter for their delays. The report was due in November. Sharp wrote that the final report, which will consider public input via the survey, is now set to be released Jan. 31.
The initial report gives two options: remodel or build a new jail.
“Through our deliberative process, several critical areas of concern were found,” the commissioners said in the initial report.
Those include the conditions of housing units, overcrowding, “lack of critical space for medical, mental health and detoxification services,” and staffing levels.
“Addressing these issues is crucial to ensure the well-being of inmates and staff,” the report says.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics show that both prison and jail populations have been increasing in recent years across the country. In 2022, local jails saw a 4% increase in people detained compared with the previous year.
A study conducted by the Blue Ribbon Commission has also forecasted an increase in the jail population, of almost 1,000 people, a 50% increase of the current jail population. According to the initial report, if no action is taken, the jail will be over its capacity of 2,030 beds by the year 2029.
Meanwhile, a new report from No Jail Deaths, a grassroots organization formed in response to ongoing deaths in the jail, presents itself as a counter-report to the blue ribbon commission. They call their study “a people’s report on the Pima County Jail and alternatives to its brutality.” No Jail Deaths introduced and delivered the report to the board of supervisors at their regular meeting on Dec. 19.
At least eight people have died in the jail since the beginning of 2023. At least 10 more people have died within 30 days of being released from the jail this year. The commission’s initial report did not mention the high number of inmate deaths at the Pima County jail.
“The conditions that led to these deaths are not remedied by the funding and construction of more carceral space,” according to the No Jail Deaths report. “They are remedied by removing people from the carceral system and diverting them to needed services — services which lose out on funding continually to police and jails and prisons.”
When the survey goes live on Dec. 26, Arizona Luminaria will link to it here.
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