No New Jail News( )

Reports from County Board Room: March 2012

This section aims to keep people up to date on the County's plans for a new jail. All the info is from County

Board and Jail Committee meetings. The 13-member Jail Committee includes Deputy Director of Corrections

Services Paul Wishka, Public Works Director John Warner, Community Mental Health Interim Director Dave

Parnin, Prosecutor Tony Tague, Sheriff Dean Roesler, Health Department Director Ken Kraus, District Judge

Andrew Wierengo III, District Court Administrator Nancy Hennard and County Commissioners Jim Derezinski,

Scott Plummer, John Snider, Ken Mahoney and Rillastine Wilkins.

The newly formed Jail Committee, with Sheriff Roesler as the chair, is pushing forward fast to complete what County officials have deemed the top priority of 2012: a new jail in Muskegon County. But not only a new jail, a new much bigger jail. The sheriff has said he needs somewhere 600 beds, up from the current 360, with “room to grow.” And, as expressed by Judge Andrew Wierengo and Roesler, no matter how big the jail gets built, no matter how much it expands, it will be filled. Expressing a shared attitude among officials on this committee, Comissioner Jim Derezin-ski, added that everyone’s who’s already in there “deserves to be there, and there are probably more people in this

county who deserve to be there.” Roesler said that because of constant overcrowding in the jail, there’s too many early

releases. With a bigger jail, he’s hoping that there won’t be any more early releases.

County Administrator Bonnie Hammersley, who’s not elected but appointed and really runs the show, has

already sketched out a phased timeline for the project. Phase I includes identifying potential sites for the facility by April 26th of this year. The County is strongly considering converting an existing building into a jail, because it’s

cheaper, and is looking at some old industrial/warehouse sites, such as the old Roundy’s distribution center on Lake-ton and Mercy General Hospital on Harvey St. Signature Associates is the real estate agent doing the research for the County Phase I also includes exploring financing options by June 1st. The County has all but ruled out putting a millage on the ballot, because they don’t think it would get approved. So they are looking at ways to finance this project that

don’t include voter approval. Current ideas on the table are a 1% increase in sales taxes or a ferry tax. The County has

about $9 million saved up right now for a new jail effort, but they would need somewhere in the ballpark of $50 million to complete the project. So about $40 million is going to come from the taxpayers.

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The goal is to make decisions on Phase I, including siting, financing and recommendations from the Jail and Juvenile Transition Center Committee (whether this potential new facility can house both the jail and the Juvenile Transition Center) by July 31st, when it would go to the full County Board to be voted on. The preliminary second phase is focused on seeking, reviewing bid proposals and selecting an architect and construction manager for the project. Phase II is projected to be completed by October 16. The preliminary third and fourth phases feature the work of the architect and construction manager and seeking and awarding a contract to a construction firm. The current proposed timeline for completion, that Bonnie Hammersly fleshed out at the March 15th Committee meeting includes groundbreaking by October 1st, 2013 and construction completed by January 2nd, 2015. Of course, this is subject to change change.

Editorial: Nell Schaefer

It seems that many Muskegon County residents

are on the same page that conditions in the current jail

are terrible, and something needs to be done about it. I

agree, and it's become clear that the county has some-

thing in the range of $9 million in the bank to devote to

the jail. I would ask, why has the county sat on this $9

million so long? Why hasn't this money been used to fix

up the jail over the past few years? Why isn't there a real

proposal on the table to use that money to restore the

current facility to more liveable conditions?

The facility has become decrepit; but that's no

justification for building a bigger jail that will lock up

even more people. A new jail under the current policies

will still house neglect and abuse of inmates by jail staff,

harsh restrictions on communication with the outside

world and will probably end up in the same neglected

condition as the current jail.

The current plan is a 600 bed facility, "with room

to grow." Six-hundred beds up from the current 360.

Many of the County leaders who are for the plan would

actually like to see the current number doubled, to 730

beds, if it just wasn't so expensive. There was no doubt

in the minds of Judge Andrew Wierengo, Sheriff Dean

Roesler and others present from the courts that however

big a new jail gets built, it will be filled.

This plan is not a solution to overcrowding at the

jail, but an expansion of a system that sees way too

many people in jail. There's no in-patient rehab in Mus-

kegon anymore and we’re building a bigger jail? Numer-ous local schools might get shut down and we're building

a bigger jail? The increase in taxes to finance a new jail

could negatively affect businesses, force them into more

layoffs, and drive up unemployment and we're building a

bigger jail? This is misguided policy.

This county does not need nor can afford a new,

bigger jail. What we do need are more programs to

reduce recidivism and offer concrete alternatives to

incarceration and improvement of conditions in the

current building.

Who's Locked up?

And Why?

Next Jail Committee meeting: Thursday, March 29. 1:30 PM

Next Full Board meeting: Tuesday,

April 10th, 2012 at 3:30pm

Meetings are on the 4th Floor of the Hall of Justice, in

the County Board Room.

This column is devoted to shedding light on why the current jail is so full. Each issue we'll look at different small-time offenses that people are in for that aren't violent or danger-ous at all.

Unarmed Robbery/Retail Fraud (40 people): It's

becoming more and more common to charge

someone who was shoplifting ("Retail Fraud") with

Unarmed Robbery instead. Unarmed Robbery (UR)

is a 15 year felony, Retail Fraud typically is a

misdemeanor. The law says that if "the Defendant

used force or violence against the victim, or put

the victim in fear" they are guilty of UR. If the loss

prevention/security person claims they were "in

fear" that's all it takes. People are being put in jail

for this even if they just ran away and didn't touch

or injure the security person at all. Then when

they eventually leave jail it's as a felon- so it's

harder to get a job, find a place to live, get some

public assistance, they can't vote, police hassle

ex-cons more often....On and on.

Most people end up shoplifting for a reason,

especially in this economically depressed county,

and turning them into felons isn't helping at all.