CLEVELAND — Cuyahoga County Council has decided to put plans for a new jail on hold.
During its meeting on Tuesday, Council announced that it will wait until a new executive is elected next month and takes office next year.
"The most responsible course of action is to postpone the decision to move forward," Cuyahoga County Council President Pernel Jones Jr. said during the meeting.
Several Cuyahoga County corrections officers were at the meeting to weigh in on the hot topic. They say they're fed up with their working conditions and concerned about safety, both for them and inmates as well.
"I've been there since 2005, since 2005 I've never seen so many assaults, I've never seen so many shanks being made," says Brian Klak, a corrections supervisor at the Cuyahoga County Jail. "It's just a dangerous environment.
Corrections officers are asking the county for help, calling for harsher consequences when inmates assault officers.
"If I go to Wal Mart and I sexually harass somebody or if I grope somebody, that's a crime," Klak adds. "So that should be the same thing within the county jail, if you do that to one of our female staff, that should be a crime."
Klak adds that retention is terrible, leading to staffing shortages impacting morale. That's on top of the already-crumbling infrastructure. However, he's confident that simply building a new jail won't fix the old problems.
"A new jail is not going to fix the retention problems, the stuff that's going on in that jail," he says. "I understand we do need a new jail, but before that we've got to work on the meat and potatoes."
Last week, the 12-member Justice Center Executive Steering Committee voted down a proposal to purchase 44 acres of land at 2700 Transport Road in Cleveland to house the new correctional facility.
At issue is the question of the environmental safety at the three parcels of land, which is now the site of a container storage facility, but once housed a Standard Oil refinery.
The proposal submitted in July by Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish called for the county to take control of the 40-acre Cuyahoga Valley Industrial Center site in Slavic Village that used to be the home of a steel mill, then offer that area for the container storage facility company to purchase for $6.4 million. Cuyahoga County would then buy the land on Transport Road for $20 million.
The site in Slavic Village was considered as a potential site of the next Cuyahoga County Jail, but political and community leaders in Cleveland pushed back because of its proximity to residential areas as well as the Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Ohio on Broadway.
The existing quarter percent sales tax, which was implemented in 2007 and set to expire in 2027, would also be extended under the proposed legislation, which could still be voted on by Cuyahoga County Council at a later time.
Last year, Budish said the new Cuyahoga County Corrections Center would house approximately 1,900 inmates and was expected to be ready in 2025. The cost of the jail at the time was estimated at $550 million, but is now slated to be around $700 million.
Previous Reporting:
- Justice Center Steering Committee rejects proposed Transport Road site for new Cuyahoga County Jail
- Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish to introduce legislation for land purchase, sales tax extension for new jail
- 'We don't need a jail in our neighborhood': Cleveland City Council members oppose Slavic Village site for proposed new county jail