After years of talk and not much action, Monroe County officials are reviewing architectural renderings, square footage and cost estimates for a long-proposed justice center for a new jail and related offices.
Architect renderings showing the proposed Monroe County justice center, which will contain a new jail, courtrooms and justice-related offices including the prosecutor, public defender, probation and county clerk.
The cost to taxpayers? About $225 million for a 237,161-square-foot, 3-level structure to be built on property at the Ind. 46 junction with Hunter Valley Road, just west of Bloomington.
The proposed justice center will contain a 404-bed jail, courtrooms and offices for the sheriff, courts, prosecutor, public defender, probation, community corrections and county clerk departments.
An alternative and more expensive option would add 96 jail beds and an inmate discharge resource center — and 5,000 square feet — to the complex. Expanding the jail to 500 beds would cost an additional $5 million, and a resource center for inmates being released would add another $900,000 to the cost.
The size of the new jail has been a point of contention between county council members, the commissioners and the sheriff. The 404 beds in the primary plan breaks the number down to 296 for general population prisoners, 60 for those needing medical or mental health care, 20 for short-term prisoner stays and 28 for inmate workers.
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