Gas line leak outside Monroe County jail shut off before evacuation plan activated

Gas leak at Monroe County jail Sept. 20, 2023

On Wednesday, outside Monroe County’s jail, a gas line that was busted around 3:42 p.m. had by 7:12 p.m. been shut off. That’s according to a Monroe County sheriff’s office news release.

At least three Bloomington fire department trucks were on the scene at the jail late Wednesday afternoon as part of the emergency response to the leaking gas line outside the jail.

Fire trucks were staged in and around the north-south alley that cuts through the block at 7th Street and College Avenue where the jail is located.

The whooshing sound of leaking gas was audible from the end of the alley. The odor of natural gas was occasionally discernible, but not persistent.

According to a Monroe County sheriff’s office news release, the gas line was broken after an ASI Facilities Services worker removed a broken toilet from the jail. The toilet was set down outside in a way that struck the inlet valve for a gas line into the jail, according to the sheriff’s news release. Continue reading “Gas line leak outside Monroe County jail shut off before evacuation plan activated” →

Jail finance committee starts off week of criminal justice talk with diversity, equity, inclusion

Monroe County's justice fiscal advisory committee mulls DEI

Diversity, equity, and inclusion was the focus of Monday afternoon’s meeting of the county council’s justice fiscal advisory committee (JFAC).

The highlight of the committee’s meeting was a presentation on racial disparity at the Monroe County jail. Presenting the information was former attorney Guy Loftman, who serves on the legal redress committee of the Monroe County Branch of the NAACP.

A key fact presented by Loftman, based on Monroe County jail statistics from earlier this year, was the disparity between the percentage of Black inmates and the percentage of Black residents of Monroe County.

As measured by the U.S. Census in 2020 about 3.9 percent of Monroe County residents are Black. But for the 3-month period between Jan. 1 and March 31 of this year, Black people made up on average 26.5% of the inmates in the Monroe County jail.

JFAC’s Monday meeting was the first of three meetings this week when local officials will have criminal justice-related matters on their agenda.

On Friday at noon, Bloomington’s city council has a work session scheduled, to hear from county officials about options for locating a new county jail.

Appearing on Tuesday’s regular monthly meeting for the full county council is a discussion item about “potential adjustments to the LIT-special purpose fund rate.” That’s a juvenile detention-related tax. Continue reading “Jail finance committee starts off week of criminal justice talk with diversity, equity, inclusion” →

Jail update: Population a bit down, showers for delousing, future camera upgrades

At Wednesday’s regular meeting of the three Monroe County commissioners, jail commander Kyle Gibbons gave what has become a routine update from the sheriff’s office on conditions at the facility.

Monroe County jail commander Kyle Gibbons briefs county commissioners on current jail conditions.

The current jail population is down to 188 people, compared to 192 last Wednesday, Gibbons reported. In the last 48 hours, just four new inmates had been booked into the jail, which was more than balanced out by 17 releases during the same period, he said.

The number of felony inmates is 156. There are 27 inmates with misdemeanor charges. Rounding out the jail population are holds for either parole or the state department of corrections.

Gibbons was also at Wednesday’s meeting to ask commissioners to approve a $9,710 purchase that is supposed to help address the problem of lice at the jail. The money was for a showering system, manufactured by Romaine Companies, which will be deployed in the shower used by inmates when they first get booked into the jail.

The Romaine system allows delousing shampoo to be injected into the stream of water from the showerhead, Gibbons told commissioners.

He described how there’s an access panel on the other side of the wall where the showerhead is mounted, which means that installation of the system won’t require any kind of construction. Continue reading “Jail update: Population a bit down, showers for delousing, future camera upgrades” →

Substance use awareness group gets a look inside Monroe County’s jail

On Friday, when a tour group of elected and appointed officials arrived at the Monroe County jail’s laundry room, two industrial-sized dryers were spinning, which made the area smell like freshly washed clothes.

Before and after photos of different locations in the Monroe County jail, provided by the county sheriff’s office.

Leading the tour was jail commander Kyle Gibbons, who said about the laundry, “This is the only part of the jail that smells normal.”

In the rest of the jail, the odor is a mix of bodily waste, fresh paint, and cleaning fluids.

The fresh paint and cleaning fluids are part of sheriff Ruben Marté’s effort to clean and sanitize the jail to rectify conditions that confronted him after he was sworn into office at the start of the year.

The tour was another chance for more decision makers to see first-hand the conditions that have been depicted in slide decks presented at several public meetings starting in late January.

On Friday afternoon, it was members of Monroe County’s substance use disorder awareness commission (SUDAC) who toured the jail. Continue reading “Substance use awareness group gets a look inside Monroe County’s jail” →

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” →

New job for coordinating cleaning of Monroe County jail now has description, on clear path to creation

From left: Elizabeth Sensenstein, Phil Parker, Kyle Gibbons, Jeff Cockerill, Geoff McKim, Peter Iversen.

Monroe County chief deputy sheriff Phil Parker.

From left: Monroe County chief deputy sheriff Phil Parker, Kyle Gibbons, and county attorney Jeff Cockrill.

Now finally settled is the wording of the job description for a new position at Monroe County’s jail, which is supposed to help put the jail into a clean and sanitary condition and keep it that way.

The job description was the topic of a Friday noon meeting of the county council’s personnel administration committee (PAC), which agreed to forward the job description to Waggoner, Irwin, and Sheele, Inc. (WIS)—which is the county’s HR consultant.

WIS will incorporate the job description into the county’s job classification scheme, which determines compensation. The final step in the process will be for the full county council to approve the creation of the position, and its compensation.

That approval could come at the county council’s March 14 meeting. Continue reading “New job for coordinating cleaning of Monroe County jail now has description, on clear path to creation” →

Candid email from Monroe County sheriff presses commissioners for more urgent approach to new jail cleanup position, other issues

Ruben Marté at the Feb. 20, 2023 CJRC meeting.

Penny Githens at the Feb. 20, 2023 CJRC meeting.

“Try as I may, I cannot come to grips why this low-level position, a sheriff’s office employee, is of any interest at all for the commissioners, other than to fully support it.”

That’s one sentence of a 3,500-word email that Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté addressed on Monday night to Penny Githens, president of the board of county commissioners.

The other two commissioners are Lee Jones and Julie Thomas. The email was sent to county commissioners and other members of the community justice response committee (CJRC), among others.

When The B Square asked Githens about Marté’s email at a Tuesday noon meeting of the Monroe County Democrats’ Club, she said she had not yet read through it.

The new low-level position will have the job title of “jail technician”—a member of the staff who would be responsible for cleaning and sanitizing the jail. The jail technician would also supervise inmates who work to clean the jail.

Based on his emailed message, it’s Marte’s view that the commissioners are slow-footing the process to create the new position of jail technician. Continue reading “Candid email from Monroe County sheriff presses commissioners for more urgent approach to new jail cleanup position, other issues” →

Monroe County sheriff fires jail guard who “failed to follow our high standard” in struggle with prisoner

Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté has fired a guard at the county jail after an altercation with a prisoner, because the guard “failed to follow our high standard requiring de-escalation whenever possible.”

Monroe County Sheriff Ruben Marté addresses the community justice response committee (CJRC) on Jan. 23, 2023.

In the bodycam footage that was released by the sheriff’s office, as three guards tussle with the prisoner, one of them can be seen throwing punches at the prisoner.

A still frame from that part of the altercation is included below.

According to the news release from the sheriff’s office, the prisoner and the guard were both injured: “One of the corrections officers suffere[d] a split lip and [the prisoner] suffered a fractured nose and orbital bone.”

The bodycam footage, in condensed form and also in a full-length version, was released along with a statement from Marté around 3 p.m. on Friday.

The incident took place 10 days earlier on Jan. 31. Continue reading “Monroe County sheriff fires jail guard who “failed to follow our high standard” in struggle with prisoner” →

Monroe County jail update: Roof repairs, other building maintenance in the works

February 2022 aerial image of the jail, looking west, from Monroe County’s online property lookup system.

Ceiling under an area underneath of the shower and toilet facility in the inmate worker dorm that drips constantly.

One of two toilets for 20 inmate workers.

Detritus accumulated between a metal screen and the window.

Unidentified green slime oozing down a wall.

Ceiling under an area underneath of the shower and toilet facility in the inmate worker dorm that drips constantly.

Monroe County’s jail is located on the top floors of the Charlotte Zietlow justice center.

At a meeting of the community justice response committee (CJRC) 10 days ago, Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté and his executive team presented slides showing conditions at the jail, which confronted them when Marté was sworn into office at the start of the year.

A kind of counterpoint to Marté’s presentation came at the Wednesday morning meeting of the county commissioners.

Their regular meeting was followed by a work session, which also addressed the topic of jail maintenance.

At the work session, the county’s fleet and building manager, Richard Crider, briefed commissioners on various maintenance efforts that are underway, involving: the roof and water leaks; ventilation; plumbing; lighting; and showers.

That came after the regular meeting, when commissioners approved a $129,777 item to cover an agreement with Insulated Roofing Contractors (IRC) to scan, clean, and recoat the justice building roof.

Connected with that item was a $63,750 item to shut down, remove, and stage the roof’s solar panels on another section of the roof, until the new roof coating is applied.

About maintenance efforts, Crider said, “This process is active—it’s ongoing.”

Commissioner Julie Thomas stressed the idea that while the specific maintenance activities that Crider described would address the conditions presented by Marté, the maintenance was already in the works—not a reaction to the slide presentation. Continue reading “Monroe County jail update: Roof repairs, other building maintenance in the works” →

Monroe County sheriff on racist graffiti in jail cells: “When I see that word…I cannot move slow.”

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.

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.”

Monday’s slide deck was a visual followup to oral presentations that Gibbons has given to county commissioners and county councilors in the last couple of weeks.

The visuals he presented on Monday appeared to have a sobering impact on committee members. Continue reading “Monroe County sheriff on racist graffiti in jail cells: “When I see that word…I cannot move slow.”” →