JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jail maintenance projects top $9 million, but could keep the building operational while the city considers moving the facility out of downtown, City Council members said in committees last week.
Renovating or building a new jail has been a passive item, consistently billed as “beyond five years” from now, on the Capital Improvement Plan for years. Council established a committee late last year to bring the discussion into the present. Now, the committee says investing in the current facility will give the city time to finalize plans for a new jail and police headquarters.
“This is just to really get the building where it should have been because there's so many downfalls,” Randy White, City Council vice president, said in the Finance Committee meeting. “...A boiler is 30 years old and half the elevators work some other safety systems, so it's nothing cosmetic or nothing shiny.”
Council approved the spending unanimously Tuesday night.
City Council members have called the condition of the jail “horrible” and in need of repair at committee meetings. The $9 million goes heavily toward infrastructure upgrades, along with mold remediation and workstation pods.
The city primarily allocates funds over $250,000 through the Capital Improvement Program annually. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, which runs the jail, requested the funds through the council committee after the CIP was already approved for the year.
The 2023/24 CIP did include $2.5 million for cell door upgrades, which is separate from JSO’s $500 million budget. The sheriff did not spend just over $10 million from the office’s 2022/23 budget, and City Council is considering the $9 million for upgrades as if pulled from those leftover funds.
Jimmy Peluso, a member of the jail council committee, said he was taken aback at the amount needed, but he was “happy to pay it.” He believed JSO did not ask for the funds earlier in part because the jail was not a priority for previous administrations.
“I think they're [JSO] working with what they have, and now they're finally being given the green light to ask for what they really need,” Peluso told the Times-Union. So I'm pleased that they're able to do that. They've been either empowered by this administration to do so.”
The current jail is 30 years old with a capacity of about 2,600 people and “built up” instead of out.
The next jail will likely be closer to a “campus” style, maximum of two floors, with an infirmary building and mental health resources. Another, smaller facility will likely still be downtown.
Ron Salem, the City Council president, said the style of the new building would help cut back on maintenance and prevent the need for another full remodel in the future. Salem said, for instance, that elevator issues have long plagued the jail.
The jail committee will likely finish its work in February and produce a report in March, Salem said. The report will be a mix of “fact finding and recommendations,” Salem told the Times-Union after the Finance Committee meeting.
He anticipated the report would include the committee’s opinions on the desired size of the jail, type of jail, mental health services provided, among other details.
City Council considers how Police Memorial Building move will affect the jail
The report will also likely include recommendations on moving the Police Memorial Building, but Salem said the situation may by then already be resolved as JSO is currently weighing the benefits of moving its headquarters to an existing building.
JSO currently leases space in the Brooklyn neighborhood Florida Blue building for some administrative and detective offices, spanning three floors. The City Council committee discussed earlier this month moving the rest of the office to the tower, which JSO representatives supported.
"Right now after COVID, there's a lot more office space available which has brought down that cost per square foot, which makes this a really good option that wasn't available five years ago compared to building all-new," Sheriff's Office Director of Police Services Larry Schmitt said at a jail committee meeting.
Prior to considering Florida Blue, the City Council committee received an estimate for $5.89 million in maintenance needs for the Police Memorial Building. They decided not to allocate that funding now because of the more immediate effort to move JSO out of the building – as opposed to the minimum five years it will take to move the jail.
JSO is working with the city’s real estate division to develop the needs for a new headquarters building, Salem said. Since the committee announced the Floria Blue building was in consideration, JSO has also received information on other buildings downtown with vacant office space, Salem said.
Like with the lease of the current space in Florida Blue, the council will have to approve the lease agreement for any other space.
Peluso approved of the Florida Blue space because of the unlikely possibility it would become a residential tower in the near future.
He also suggested utilizing the former JEA building downtown but believed leasing a space would save the city money in upkeep and maintenance.
“So hopefully now we won't have any problems that we do today because it would be up to whomever our landlord is, frankly, to make sure that the building is in good working condition,” Peluso said.
If the headquarters moves, the jail facility could expand into the memorial building. Council member Michael Boylan, chair of the jail committee, suggested adding an in-house infirmary for the people incarcerated in order to lower the cost the city pays to UF Health for their care.
JSO has a $21 million private healthcare contract with NaphCare for jail healthcare this year, but without an infirmary onsite, many of the people incarcerated have to be transported to UF Health, which resulted in an additional $13 million paid last year.
Peluso said JSO would likely inform the council about if they preferred an infirmary to be in the memorial building or the existing jail as they focus on building a new one.
“To have an infirmary on the property, I think would be a huge benefit to the health and safety of inmates and also a huge benefit to existing facility,” Peluso said.