Tag: jail

Monroe County shifts local income tax rate by a smidgen, frees up money for jail health services

On Tuesday night, Monroe County councilors enacted a change to local income tax rates that will not result in more money collected from taxpayers.

That’s because the only change is to shift one tax rate to another. But the impact of that shift will give the county about $425,000 a year in new money to spend on corrections.

How could the county council spend the money?

On Tuesday, councilor Marty Hawk pointed to some new mental health positions at the jail that have been requested by Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté for the 2024 budget.

Those positions total $507,000, Hawk said, but the additional flexibility given by the shift in LIT would go a long way towards covering them.

The council’s action on Tuesday did not increase the overall LIT rate. The council reduced by 0.01 percent the LIT rate in a category called the special purpose LIT. But the council imposed, for the first time, a rate in the corrections LIT by a corresponding 0.01 percent. Continue reading “Monroe County shifts local income tax rate by a smidgen, frees up money for jail health services” →

Meeting on site selection for new Monroe County jail set for Aug. 29

The building footprint of the Hamilton County jail is superimposed on the map to give a rough idea of the size of a potential jail compared to the overall site.
The building footprint of the Hamilton County jail is superimposed on the map to give a rough idea of the size of a potential jail compared to the overall site.

On Tuesday, a big group of local government officials has been invited by Monroe County commissioners to a discussion about the future site of a new county jail.

The meeting, which will be convened in the Nat U. Hill Room of the county courthouse, is set to start at 5:30 p.m.

The meeting on the jail site location coincides with the second day of departmental budget hearings that are on the calendar for Bloomington’s city council.

Scheduled on Tuesday night for the city council, starting at 5:30 p.m., are Bloomington Transit, followed by the fire department, and the police department.

Bloomington police chief Mike Diekhoff, who will be presenting his department’s 2024 budget requests to the city council on Tuesday, has also been invited to the meeting about the jail site location.

Other invitees include: Ruben Marté (sheriff); Mary Ellen Diekhoff (circuit court presiding judge); Erika Oliphant (prosecutor); Jill Lees (IU police chief); Jimmie Durnil (Ellettsville town marshal); Paul Bucher (Indiana State Police district commander); John Hamilton (Bloomington mayor); Sue Sgambelluri (city council president); and the members of the Monroe County council. Continue reading “Meeting on site selection for new Monroe County jail set for Aug. 29” →

Finance committee for new Monroe County jail set to take up topic of diversion

“What investments can the county council make for community services to reduce the number of community members entering the justice system?”

DLZ has reviewed four potential sites for building a new Monroe County jail, including the Hopewell neighborhood, the county-owned Thomson PUD, and two unspecified sites somewhere in the I-69 corridor

That’s the question at the center of the agenda  for Monday’s meeting of Monroe County’s justice fiscal advisory committee (JFAC).

The meeting makes up for the one that was blown off the schedule by the windstorm that struck the county a month ago.

When the county council created the JFAC in May, the council’s resolution set a September timeframe as the target for delivering a report to the full council.

The report is supposed to make recommendations on priorities for funding of mental health, substance abuse treatment, and a new correctional facility.

JFAC is also supposed to give guidance on investments to prevent individuals from entering the justice system, reducing recidivism, and promotion of equity. JFAC is also supposed to establish timelines for implementation.

The committee’s report is also supposed to identify funding sources within permissible uses of tax revenues. Continue reading “Finance committee for new Monroe County jail set to take up topic of diversion” →

Justice committee tackles question of how best to help reentry process: Hire more staff at jail, or increase funding to community nonprofits?

County councilor Peter Iversen
Misty James, reentry mentor a support specialist with New Leaf New Life
County council president Kate Wiltz
Bloomington mayor John Hamilton
County councilor Jennifer Crossley
Jordan McIntire, executive director of New Leaf New Life
July 3, 2023 JFAC meeting

At a Monday committee meeting, a general consensus seemed to emerge: More money needs to be spent on programs for people who are incarcerated at Monroe County’s jail, so that after release, the path back to their communities is easier.

Chairing Monday’s session of the Monroe County council’s justice fiscal advisory committee (JFAC) was Kate Wiltz.

Wiltz, along with councilors Jennifer Crossley and Peter Iversen, were joined by several non-voting members of the committee. Among others, they included Bloomington mayor John Hamilton, city councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith, county commissioner Julie Thomas, and Misty James, who is a reentry mentor and support specialist with the nonprofit New Leaf New Life.

Reentry was the focus of Monday’s meeting. Next up, on July 10, JFAC’s meeting will focus on community corrections. Continue reading “Justice committee tackles question of how best to help reentry process: Hire more staff at jail, or increase funding to community nonprofits?” →

Storm knocks out Monroe County justice committee

A tree was split by the strong winds that blew through with a thunderstorm around 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 29, 2023.
This the Duke Energy power outage map at around 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 29, 2023
The sign posted on the north entrance to the Monroe County courthouse announces the cancellation of the justice fiscal advisory committee (JFAC) on June 29, 2203.

The storm that blew through the Bloomington area around 4 p.m. on Thursday knocked out power to at least 21,000 Duke Energy customers in the region, according to the power company’s outage map.

Even though the Monroe County courthouse still had power, a 4:30 p.m. meeting of the county council’s justice fiscal advisory committee (JFAC) was canceled.

The chairship of the committee rotates from meeting to meeting among three county councilors, and it was Jennifer Crossley’s call to cancel the meeting. The other two county councilors serving on the committee are Kate Wiltz and Peter Iversen. Several non-voting members are also included on the committee.

Crossley told The B Square that for people traveling from outside the downtown it would have meant driving around crashes and non-working traffic signals, so she didn’t want anyone to take unnecessary risks.

The missed meeting means the committee will have to compress its work a bit. When the county council created the committee in May, the council’s resolution set a deadline for the completion  of its assigned work—by the end of the year.

But the resolution sets a September timeframe as the target for delivering a report to the full council. Continue reading “Storm knocks out Monroe County justice committee” →

June 5: Monroe County’s new justice finance advisory committee set to meet

Monroe County councilor Kate Wiltz (Jan. 11, 2023)
Monroe County councilor, Peter Iversen.
From left: Kate Wiltz, Jennifer Crossley, and Peter Iversen (Jan. 23, 2023)

At its May 23 meeting, the Monroe County council voted unanimously to appoint three of its seven members to a committee it had already created two weeks earlier, on May 9.

The committee is supposed to dive into the question of how to pay for new facilities, to address the findings of unacceptable conditions at the current jail.

The new committee, which is called the justice finance advisory committee (JFAC), includes councilors Jennifer Crossley, Peter Iversen, and Kate Wilz.

The JFAC is now set to hold its first meeting on Monday at 4:30 p.m. in the Nat U. Hill Room of the county courthouse.

The resolution establishing the committee includes among several duties: “obtaining key information from local stakeholders to help facilitate responsible informed financial decisions and identify budget priorities that best address the community’s justice needs.” Continue reading “June 5: Monroe County’s new justice finance advisory committee set to meet” →

Movement, but no progress yet, on site selection for new Monroe County jail

Monroe County commissioner Julie Thomas (April 17, 2023)
Monroe County councilor (April 17, 2023)
Monroe circuit court court judge Darcie Fawcett (April 17, 2023)
Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté (April 17, 2023)
DLZ’s Scott Carnegie (April 17, 2023)
Monroe County commissioner Lee Jones (April 17, 2023)
From left: Monroe County councilors Jennifer Crossley and Kate Wiltz.
Kay Weinberg with Care not Cages (April 17, 2023)
CJRC meeting on (April 17, 2023)
CJRC meeting on (April 17, 2023)

A significant bit of news out of Monday’s meeting of the community justice response committee (CJRC) was an announcement from the public mic by Bloomington’s public engagement director Kaisa Goodman.

Goodman told the committee that a tour of some county-owned land south of Catalent had been arranged for later in the week.

Touring the property, which some see as a viable site for a new jail, will be Goodman, Bloomington’s corporation counsel Beth Cate, Bloomington planning director Scott Robinson, county attorney Jeff Cockerill, jail commander Kyle Gibbons, county councilor Kate Wiltz, and possibly one other county council member.

The location of a new jail has been a wide open question since December 2022, when Bloomington’s city council unanimously rejected a rezone request  for some land in the southwestern tip of the city, where county commissioners had proposed building the new jail.

The site south of Catalent, also known as the Thomson PUD, has been frequently mentioned as a possible alternative—it’s not downtown but is closer to services and is better served by public transit. County commissioners are cool to the idea, because they have reserved the acreage for the pharmaceutical company’s possible southward expansion, among other reasons.

Despite the scheduled tour, it’s an overstatement to say that any momentum is building towards the choice of that site or any site as a new jail location. Continue reading “Movement, but no progress yet, on site selection for new Monroe County jail” →

Confrontation over transparency of jail architect selection shows continued rocky relations between Monroe County commissioners, sheriff’s office

Chief deputy sheriff Phil Parker
Administrator for the county commissioners Angie Purdie
County commissioner Julie Thomas
Monroe County attorney Jeff Cockerill
County commissioner Penny Githens

At a work session held on Wednesday, Monroe County commissioners and chief sheriff’s deputy Phil Parker did not mince words when they took up the topic of transparency in connection with the selection of DLZ as the design-build firm for a new county jail.

Making a recommendation for DLZ, as the best of three respondents to an RFQ (request for proposals), had been a six-member committee: Richard Crider, Monroe County’s fleet and building manager; David Gardner, ASI Facilities Services contractor; Lee Baker, county attorney; Kyle Gibbons, jail commander; Matt Demmings, assistant jail commander; and Angie Purdie, administrator for the commissioners.

The recommendation for DLZ was presented at a county commissioners March 8 work session. On March 22, the commissioners voted to enter into a contract with DLZ.

On Wednesday, Parker told commissioners that based on statements that have been made at recent public meetings by Crider on behalf of the RFQ review committee, and by the commissioners, about their understanding of the selection of DLZ, the public would conclude that the RFQ review committee had been in perfect alignment on every aspect of the process, and its selection of DLZ.

Parker said the committee’s work had been portrayed as if “everybody on the committee was in lockstep, there was no dysfunction on the committee about that process, that everybody was in agreement, the vote was unanimous.”

About that portrayal, Parker said, “That’s simply not true.”

Continue reading “Confrontation over transparency of jail architect selection shows continued rocky relations between Monroe County commissioners, sheriff’s office” →

Community justice notebook: County council adopts recommendations on new jail

At its work session on Tuesday night, Monroe County’s seven-member council voted 6–1 to adopt a previously distributed memo “as a reflection of the council’s recommendations for the new jail.”

The image links to a .pdf file of the non-binding memo adopted by the Monroe County council on March 28, 2023.

The three non-binding recommendations in the memo are:

(1) The county council recommends a jail with a bed size of no more than 400.
(2) The county council recommends a jail location as close to existing services as possible.
(3) The justice campus size will be determined by several factors in the future.

Councilor Marty Hawk dissented saying, “I think this is a bit too early… to make that kind of decision that this is the reflection of the entire council.”

The council’s action comes in the context of work being done by an 11-member community justice response committee (CJRC), to make recommendations on a new jail facility for Monroe County.

Making the decisions on location and size of a new facility will be the county commissioners. As the fiscal body of the county, the county council has to approve the funding.

Serving on the CJRC are three county councilors: Kate Wiltz, Jennifer Crossley, and Peter Iversen.

The reason the CJRC was established in the summer of 2021 is reflected in the title of the document adopted by the council on Tuesday night: “Justice Campus Land: Toward a Constitutionally Sound Jail.” Continue reading “Community justice notebook: County council adopts recommendations on new jail” →

Monroe County sheriff sends update on efforts to clean, sanitize jail

Late Wednesday afternoon, Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté released an update on efforts to clean up the jail facility.

The emailed update was sent to county councilors, county commissioners, members of the community justice response committee, and several other community members.

The update included a link to several before-after photos of: J Block, which is the jail’s new mental health dormitory; the intake room; and the sally port, which is where prisoners are taken into the jail.

The focus of current cleaning efforts is on D Block, according to Marté’s update. Continue reading “Monroe County sheriff sends update on efforts to clean, sanitize jail” →