I will be voting in favor of the County Board Black Caucus Jail Consolidation Plan
/In my 3 terms on the County Board, I have voted against resolutions funding a new jail. I have found the proposals in the past to be expensive and not data driven. Most importantly, past proposals did not take serious bold efforts to reduce the crippling racial disparities that are well documented in Dane County.
For real change in our Criminal Justice system, we need to reimagine what is possible. If we build excess jail capacity, it will be used disproportionately to incarcerate black and brown people. In order to drive meaningful reforms, we need an infrastructural commitment to change.
The plan put forth by the Dane County Board Black Caucus does just that. The resolution calls for a 725 bed jail, moving acute medical care to hospitals, implementing weekend/holiday court, and working with our partners in the Criminal Justice System to work on diversion programs while reducing DOC holds.
The most critical piece of this plan is to set a firm guide post as to the jail capacity we will allow as a community. If the bigger and more expensive jail is built, we know it will be filled. History has already taught us this lesson. Our Sheriff is unable to staff the current jail so they are transferring inmates to other counties. A larger jail will not only be more expensive to build, it will be prohibitively expensive to staff and operate.
I have very carefully deliberated over my decision to support this resolution and the reduced bed count is a contrast to past resolutions and decisions. We are in this position because a $75 million dollar jail was approved but it called for building floors on top of a building that would not support additional floors. The costs have ballooned mostly due to administrative incompetence and indecision by the County Executive’s office.
We must close the 6th and 7th floors of the City County Building but in doing so we can not repeat the mistakes of the past. The sensible plan proposed by the Black Caucus is the right path forward for this moment that we find ourselves in. We can build a right sized facility coupled with aggressive reforms from all across the Criminal Justice system.
I want to thanks Supervisors Gray, Kigeya, Pellebon, and Wright for their work on this plan and you can find many more details and resources here:
https://www.danecountyblackcaucus.org/
https://www.danecountyblackcaucus.org/faqs
https://www.wrightfordanecounty.com/blog/u2h5jnpdvqhptdib18pxzm5uexcg9z
I welcome your feedback! Please reach out via social media or email: chawla.yogesh@countyofdane.com