A plethora of questions surrounding a proposal for a new Shelby County Jail need to be answered before members of the County Commission are willing to sign on the dotted line for a master plan.
The unknowns include a potential funding source for the $350,000 plan. As a result, members agreed 7-3 with Chairman Michael Whaley’s motion to punt the discussion to the first committee meeting in October during the Wednesday, Aug. 20, Law Enforcement, Corrections and Courts Committee meeting.
“I’ve had a conversation with Sheriff Bonner,” Whaley said. “He’s committed to working through that to make sure we have a concrete plan. That’s a reasonable amount of time to do it.”
Agreeing with Whaley were commissioners Miska Clay Bibbs, Charlie Caswell Jr., Erika Sugarmon, David Bradford, Britney Thornton and Brandon Morrison. Voting no were Amber Mills, Henri Brooks and sponsor Mick Wright.
The conversation got off to a rocky start after Shelby County’s Director of Finance and Administration Audrey Tipton questioned the wisdom of the proposed funding source. The resolution calls for the use of contingency funds to pay for the plan. However, the money would need to be paid off with interest over the next 20 years.
Despite Ford’s protest that the decision lay solely with the commission, fellow members agreed with Tipton’s assessment. In the interim, a new source will need to be sussed out to fund Wright’s proposal.
Vague language around “request for proposals” and “request for qualifications” included in the resolution hindered its progress. Both would be used to hire “entities” to conduct the master plan. Neither had a scoring process.
“It just says the results (of the master plan) should be presented within eight months,” Whaley pointed out. “It also said it would be led by the sheriff’s office, and I’m hearing the sheriff say he’s not clear about what’s actually happening. So that’s a concern.”
The master plan is the first recommendation of a jail feasibility study conducted by the County Technical Assistance Service (CTAS). It was delivered to commissioners Aug. 11. The research recommended three locations for a new Shelby County lockup. At the top of the list is the derelict site of the old Firestone tire plant in underserved North Memphis.
According to proponents, the plan would not only provide a location for a modern jail but Memphis’ entire criminal and civil justice system. The move would revitalize the struggling community by drawing in businesses to meet the demand of the area’s legal community.
Ten acres of prime real estate at 201 Poplar Ave. would also be available for redevelopment. The decaying 43-year-old jail has become a safety hazard for inmates and jail staff alike. Earlier this year, commissioners provided $18 million for several repairs to the jail. The costs are only expected to rise in the future.
The other potential locations in the study were the 100-acre penal farm at Shelby Farms or Downtown Memphis.
“We think the site that we have will be the best site, but you’re not picking that site today. The county commissioned a study by CTAS. They brought forward three sites. What this money allows you to do is to run a process, which heretofore has not happened between all the different parties that have to weigh in on this,” said consultant Kemp Conrad, vice president at Cushman & Wakefield Commercial Advisers LLC, a commercial real estate advisory firm.
Located near the neighborhood of New Chicago, plan A is the latest large-scale project pitched in a largely Black neighborhood to ignite “not in my backyard” pushback. As the initial proposal, area residents, activists and some commissioners fear it has the inside track on approval. The sheriff did his best to ease anxieties.
“I just think right now, we’re putting the cart before the horse. There are no bulldozers in New Chicago. Nobody’s talking about turning earth anywhere right now. We are just in the infancy stages of us just having conversations,” Bonner said.
Another worry is that those leading the effort have vested interests — landowners in particular.
“My biggest concern is neutrality. If you want the jail to be built on your site, of course, you’re going to make the plan look a certain way,” said Clay Bibbs.
Commissioners proposed opening up the process to include various stakeholders. The discussions would include community input. The conversation could grow to include the entire court system, not just the criminal justice side. Ancillary offices like the circuit court clerk could be drawn into the back-and-forth.
“That’s exactly what the master plan is for. It’s to get that stakeholder input so everybody works together,” Conrad said.
Before the discussion ended, Thornton proposed the creation of an ad hoc committee to expand the dialogue to “complete jail reform.” This could include other possible locations for a new jail beyond the three initial candidates.
According to commission rules, an ad hoc committee can only be formed or abolished by the commission chair. The chair also decides the makeup of the committee. An ad hoc committee can include non-commission members. Two commissioners are required to be appointed.
Chair-elect Shante Avant will begin her one-year term on Sept. 1.
