MUNCIE — Delaware County officials are moving ahead with plans for a new jail, and the early focus for the location appears to be on the former Wilson Middle School.
Most members of the Delaware County commissioners and county council met in a closed executive session on Tuesday to talk about the purchase of real estate. Some of those in the meeting told The Star Press the discussion was about a site for a new jail and focused on the former school on Muncie's far south side, although officials said other locations were still being considered.
The discussion followed several months of steps toward a new jail that have been taken since an Aug. 31 letter from a state Department of Correction jail inspector who said that the current jail, undersized, poorly designed and in use in the Delaware County Justice Center since 1992, was a critical incident — and by extension an inmate lawsuit — waiting to happen.
State jail inspector Chance Sweat wrote that the current jail was non-compliant with state jail standards, understaffed and overcrowded (nearly 300 inmates in the 220-bed jail on some days, with as many as 200 more on various kinds of release). Sweat gave the county 180 days to come up with a plan.
RECENT COVERAGE
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►W/R: State says jail will have 'critical incident'
The current jail was built to satisfy a 1978 lawsuit filed by inmates in the former jail, but not before years of delays, design and construction flaws and an estimated cost of $63 million.
In a Jan. 2 meeting, the county commissioners approved the concept of a 500-bed jail that would cost up to $50 million. But no location was specified.