Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté (March 6, 2023).
President of the Monroe County Democratic Black Caucus, Nicole Bolden (March 6, 2023).
Monroe County councilor Jennifer Crossley at the March 14, 2023 council meeting.
Monroe County councilor Kate Wiltz at the March 14, 2023 council meeting.
A new position at Monroe County’s jail has been created to support new sheriff Ruben Marté’s effort to make the jail clean and sanitary, and to keep it that way.
At their regular Tuesday meeting, county councilors voted unanimously in favor of creating a new job called “jail facility coordinator.” It will be paid on par with guards. It will report directly to the sheriff.
County commissioner Penny Githens (March 6, 2023).
County commissioner Julie Thomas (March 6, 2023).
County commissioner Lee Jones (March 6, 2023).
Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté (March 6, 2023).
From left: Monroe County circuit court judge Darcie Fawcett and deputy prosecutor April Wilson (March 6, 2023).
President of the Monroe County Democratic Black Caucus, Nicole Bolden (March 6, 2023).
Monroe County councilor Jennifer Crossley (March 6, 2023).
Community justice response committee (CJRC) (March 6, 2023).
Jauston Huerta, director of FOCUS Initiatives (March 6, 2023).
At their work session this Wednesday (March 8), Monroe County commissioners are supposed to receive a recommendation on which of three firms to select, to design and build a new jail.
The three firms responded to a request for proposals (RFQ) issued by the commissioners. Reviewing and scoring the three proposals was a committee of staff from the county’s legal department, the sheriff’s office, the facilities department, and the administrator for the commissioners.
The three firms making proposals were DLZ, Elevatus, and RQAW.
The timetable for selection and approval of a company was sketched out by president of the board of county commissioners, Penny Githens, at Monday’s meeting of the community justice response committee (CJRC).
Githens said the commissioners expect to vote on the selection of one of the three firms at their March 22 regular meeting. Whichever company is selected would be invited to give a presentation to the CJRC on April 3, Githens said.
The timetable for handling the responses to the RFQ could be counted as a bit of progress towards the goal of responding to the work of two consultants, released to the county government about 20 months ago. The report described Monroe County’s jail as having “far exceeded its structural and functional life cycle.”
From left: Lee Jones, Penny Githens, Julie Thomas at the Feb. 20, 2023 CJRC meeting.
Ken Falk at the Feb. 20, 2023 CJRC meeting.
The pink outline is part of the land owned by Monroe County south of Catalent. The image is from the Pictometry module of the county’s online property lookup system.
Jennifer Crossley at the Feb. 20, 2023 CJRC meeting.
Catherine Stafford at the Feb. 20, 2023 CJRC meeting.
Feb. 20, 2023 CJRC meeting.
The headliner on Monday’s agenda for Monroe County’s community justice response committee (CJRC) meeting was Ken Falk, legal director of the ACLU of Indiana.
Falk is the attorney who filed a lawsuit against the county in 2008, which is still subject to a “private” settlement agreement—so-called only because it’s not a court order. The agreement is not confidential.
Falk’s remarks countered the calls that the committee has heard from several angles, including the group Care Not Cages, against the construction of a new jail.
Falk was blunt: “Look, you need a new jail. Everyone knows that.” He continued, “Back in 2008, when I filed the lawsuit, everyone knew that the jail then was grossly overcrowded.” Monroe County’s jail is not grossly overcrowded now, he said, “thanks to the work of the judges and everyone else in the system.”
Falk also noted that the work of two consultants, released to the county government more than 18 months ago, had described Monroe County’s jail as having “far exceeded its structural and functional life cycle.”
Monroe County jail intake. An inmate uses a cup as a pillow.
One of two toilets for 20 inmate workers.
Ceiling under an area underneath of the shower and toilet facility in the inmate worker dorm that drips constantly.
Graffiti on a cell wall.
Detritus accumulated between a metal screen and the window.
Ceiling under an area underneath of the shower and toilet facility in the inmate worker dorm that drips constantly.
Monroe County councilor Jennifer Crossley.
From left: Monroe County circuit court judges Catherine Stafford, Darcie Fawcett, Kara Krothe, and Mary Ellen Diekhoff.
Ashley Pirani reads a statement from Monroe County Party chair David Henry at the Jan. 23, 2023 CJRC meeting.
After cleaning: Each person in the intake is now give a pad and a blanket.
After the intake area was cleaned up.
After the intake area was cleaned up.
Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté (Jan. 23, 2023)
Monroe County chief deputy sheriff Phil Parker holds a bog of detritus cleaned out from a window ledge that was sandwiched behind a metal grating.
“It looks like that’s not even the United States of America.”
That was Monroe County’s new jail commander Kyle Gibbons talking about a photograph he had displayed for Monday’s meeting of the community justice response committee (CJRC). It was from a slide deck he’d prepared, in order to show committee members conditions inside the jail when he took over at the start of the year.
In the photo, a pitcher of water had been placed on the floor outside a cell door. Jail staff were using it as a stop gap to give inmates water on request—because the water wasn’t working in the cell at the time.
Gibbons told committee members, “The staff was just trying to make sure people had water. …They were trying to ensure that everybody had access to basic human rights.”
But the color of the water inside the pitcher looked sketchy enough that county councilor Peter Iversen asked Gibbons, “That’s drinkable water?!” The glum reply from Gibbons: “That’s drinkable water.”
Monroe County jail commander Kyle Gibbons addresses the county council on Jan. 10, 2023.
Monroe County’s jail is located on the top floors of the Charlotte Zietlow justice center.
In December, 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 a new jail.
But planning for the possible construction of a new Monroe County jail continues—as a response to the reports from two consultants delivered to county government 18 months ago. As one of the reports puts it: “The jail facility is failing…”
Still set for Monday (Jan. 23) is the next meeting of the community justice response committee (CJRC). That’s the group that was established by county commissioners to address the problems highlighted in the consultants’ reports.
Monroe County councilor Marty Hawk (Jan. 10, 2023)
Monroe County councilor Jennifer Crossley (Jan. 10, 2023)
Monroe County councilor Trent Deckard (Jan. 10, 2023)
Monroe County councilor Kate Wiltz (Jan. 10, 2023)
Reaching Monroe County, Indiana on Tuesday was a tiny ripple from the political splash that was made when congressional Republicans took 15 rounds of voting to finally settle last Saturday on Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House.
The little wavelet came in the form of county councilor Marty Hawk’s participation in Tuesday’s unanimous votes to reelect Kate Wiltz as council president and Trent Deckard as president pro tem.
Hawk is the sole Republican representative on the seven-member county council. The other six are Democrats.
It was the fact that Hawk participated in the votes at all that made it a little remarkable. Last year’s officer elections were typical for her historical approach: “As I have done in the past, I will pass on this, because I believe it is up to the majority caucus to decide what’s going to happen here, and I wish you well.”
Last year she had prefaced her remarks by saying, “If you succeed, that means the entire council will succeed and so I’m happy to work well with whoever the majority puts forward.”
The group “Care Not Cages” held a block party on the lawn outside the courthouse before the meeting of the CJRC on Monday Community justice reform committee (Jan. 9, 2023).
Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté (Jan. 9, 2023)
Monroe County deputy prosecutor April Wilson (Jan. 9, 2023).
Bloomington city councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith (Jan. 9, 2023).
Monroe County councilor Kate Wiltz (Jan. 9, 2023).
Monroe County councilor Jennifer Crossley puts air quotes around the word “progressive.” (Jan. 9, 2023).
Monroe County circuit judge Catherine Stafford (Jan. 9, 2023)
County commissioner Lee Jones (Jan. 9, 2023).
City of Bloomington public engagement director Kaisa Goodman (Jan. 9, 2023).
Former Bloomington deputy mayor and mayoral candidate Don Griffin (Jan. 9, 2023).
Community justice reform committee (Jan. 9, 2023).
Outside on the Monroe County courthouse lawn, before Monday’s meeting of the community justice reform committee (CJRC), members of a group called “Care Not Cages” held what they described as a block party—in opposition to construction of a new jail.
At the CJRC meeting itself, members were frank in airing their disappointment about the way the two representatives from the board of county commissioners have approached the work of making recommendations on addressing problems at the jail.
The 14-member CJRC includes county councilors, judges, the sheriff, representatives from the prosecutor’s office, public defenders office, and the county health administrator, among others.
Drawing specific criticism on Monday was the lack of advance information given by commissioners to CJRC members about a trip they took last week to Arizona, to visit correctional facilities there.
Monroe County circuit court judge, Emily Salzmann.
Monroe County councilor, Kate Wiltz.
Monroe County councilor Marty Hawk.
Monroe County recorder, Amy Swain.
Voters in Monroe County, Indiana, elected a total of 61 local officials in 2022, who start their terms of office on Jan. 1, 2023.
That includes judges, a county commissioner, the sheriff, the recorder, the clerk, the assessor, the prosecutor, county councilors, town councilors, township trustees, township board members, and school board members.
About one-third of them took their oath of office in a public ceremony starting at noon on Sunday, New Year’s Day in the Nat U. Hill room at the county courthouse.
This past Wednesday (Dec. 21), Bloomington’s city council denied a request from the county government to rezone an 87-acre parcel in the southwestern tip of the city, so that it could be used for a new county jail.
That city council’s denial came on a unanimous vote. The outcome matched the recommendation from the city plan commission, which had voted 6–3 in mid-November against the rezone.
The city council’s representative to the plan commission, Ron Smith, voted in favor of the rezone as a plan commissioner, but against it as a city councilmember.
The specific request was to change the zoning of the land on Fullerton Pike from mixed-use employment (ME) to mixed-use institutional (MI). Use of the property as a jail would not be allowed under ME, but could be allowed under MI. A jail is a “conditional use” under MI zoning.
The council’s vote came a few minutes before midnight, after about three hours of deliberation, which included about a dozen public commenters, who spoke against the rezone, and generally against the idea of building a new jail.
A couple of public comments were made in favor of the rezone.
For councilmembers, their main land use concern appeared to be the distance from the center of the city to the site and the lack of transportation access. The road that is to be built is not yet completed, and there is not currently any public bus service to the location.
But at least as big a question as land use was the dissatisfaction that councilmembers expressed about the failure to include city officials in the community justice response committee (CJRC).
County councilor Jennifer Crossley (Dec. 12, 2022)
From left: Circuit court judges Kara Krothe and Catherine Stafford; public defender Mike Hunt; deputy public defender Karen Wrenbeck; deputy prosecutor April Wilson; and prosecutor Erika Oliphant.
From left: County councilor Peter Iversen; and County commissioner Lee Jones (Dec. 12, 2022)
The site of a proposed new county jail was revealed at the end of July, when Monroe County commissioners gave approval of a $10-million real estate deal, for about 87 acres off Fullerton Pike in the southwest corner of Bloomington.
But Monday night’s meeting of Monroe County’s community justice reform committee (CJRC) seemed to dissipate a bit of the momentum for the decision to try to build a new jail at that location.
County councilor Jennifer Crossley stated: “I no longer feel comfortable with the Fullerton Pike property.”
In August, Crossley had joined the other six county councilors in voting to approve the terms and conditions for the purchase of the Fullerton Pike land. The deal required approval from county commissioners and county councilors.
Crossley’s statement on Monday is the second recent snag that the new jail proposal has hit.
