Old school, new jail? Wilson building proposed

MUNCIE – In Delaware County, jail is a four-letter word.

Officials in Muncie were infamous in the 1970s and 1980s for their inability to operate the Delaware County jail in a constitutional manner. Inmates filed a federal court lawsuit in 1978 and, a decade later, officials agreed to build a new jail. That effort took years but the Delaware County Justice Center opened in 1992.

That wasn't the end of the story, however.

The day the building opened in 1992, the jail was already judged as too small, poorly designed and another inmate lawsuit waiting to happen. Yet officials haven't addressed the issue in the past two decades. After all the delays, construction problems and cost overruns involved in the original, $39 million jail project, a proposal to build another jail was considered political suicide for an official who would stand for re-election by taxpayers who remember the Justice Center fiasco.

At various points in the past few years, 300 prisoners — more on days after a rash of meth arrests — have been stuffed inside a jail built for 120 and later re-configured for 220. Complaints about overcrowding and food, concerns about threats that could injure correctional officers and hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual expenses were ongoing.

In 2014, Delaware County officials made the final payment on the old jail.

So is a new jail in order?

Delaware County Commissioner James King thinks so, and he's going public through The Star Press with a plan to turn the former Wilson Middle School — empty since classes ended in June 2014 after Muncie Community Schools officials merged buildings and sent middle-schoolers to the former Southside High School building — into a new jail that could house 500 inmates or more.

It's a plan that could cost $10 million, King said last week during a tour of the building with a Star Press reporter and photographer.

It'll also take the cooperation of other county officials and, King noted, perseverance and a willingness to buck the prevailing attitude. Because the very idea of a building a jail in Delaware County could end a political career.

"I know people don't like to talk about it, but we're going to have to have a new jail," King said. "I know they think anybody who tries this will never get re-elected, but if that's what happens, so be it."

Justice Center problems

The problems with the jail on the second floor of the Delaware County Justice Center are well-known: overcrowding; poor design and a layout that makes the jobs of correctional officers harder and more dangerous; and proximity to the first-floor courtrooms and related offices. Officials have lost count of the number of times inmates have stuffed paper or clothing into toilets, causing water and sewage to rain down into the offices below.

There's another problem related to the jail that's actually outside the building, and it's the cost of housing inmates in other counties to avoid overcrowding. At $35 per inmate per day, Delaware County has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, paying other counties to hold local inmates.

The problem of overcrowding and the expense of out-of-county prisoner housing has lessened in recent months, Sheriff Mike Scroggins said recently, thanks in part to home detention programs and fewer inmates sent to jail from Muncie City Court since that court's judge left the bench.

Still, landlocked in the middle of downtown as it is, the Delaware County Justice Center doesn't have room to expand to house more inmates. The only "outdoor" recreation is an indoor area with high windows that open to let in sunlight and fresh air. That solution was brainstormed by officials after the former outdoor recreation "birdcage" atop the building caused the roof to leak.

Plus there's the attraction of Delaware County actually getting a little of that $35-a-day-action by housing inmates from other counties.

With a building like Wilson Middle School, King said, Delaware County could have a jail with beds for 500 inmates or more. The beds not needed by local inmates could be rented to other counties for $35 a day.

A $10 million project

Wilson, built in 1994, saw students in classrooms from 1995 to June 2014, when Wilson's student body was merged into Southside Middle School. The Wilson property consists of 219,000 square feet on 51 acres.

The building has a $14 million assessed value, but recent Muncie Community Schools appraisals averaged about $676,000. Utility costs for the building run just over $300,000 a year.

King said he believes the county could turn the Wilson building into a jail for about $10 million.

As he walked through the building, King pointed out features that he believes could be conducive to jail building.

Pods of cells could be erected on two or more levels in big open spaces like Wilson's two gyms, cafeteria or pool.

Smaller rooms, including offices, could be used for not only county police-related offices but court offices, King said.

Other space in the building could be used for other purposes, he said. The county currently pays the Muncie Animal Shelter $120,000 a year for animal control. King said he believed the county could turn a portion of Wilson into a county animal shelter.

Positives for using Wilson as a jail, criminal justice and police complex include not only its size but the relatively few neighbors. Only one neighborhood, by King's reasoning, is near enough for residents to have strong opinions about the idea.

"We're looking at $10 million to redo the whole building and have it done," King said. "But if we built something like this, it could cost us $30 million or $40 million."

Reaction is muted

If it takes a village to raise a child, it will take the cooperation of other Delaware County officials to build a jail.

King will almost certainly need consensus among his fellow commissioners, Sherry Riggin and Shannon Henry, as well as a majority of members of Delaware County Council, to get mechanisms for purchasing the building and funding renovations of it.

Mike Jones, until December president of county council, told The Star Press recently that none of the commissioners had raised the idea with him.

The jail is overseen by Scroggins — even though he would need funding from other county officials to build a new jail — so he would be an essential player in a new jail project. Scroggins told The Star Press recently he hadn't talked to the commissioners about the possibility.

That doesn't necessarily mean that King is out there on his own in the proposal; it might just mean that few officials besides King are willing to talk about the possibility. In 2014, before the most recent county election, both Scroggins and then-Commissioner Larry Bledsoe (who lost a re-election effort) said they were in favor of putting in place a process that would eventually lead to a new jail in the future. But not necessarily during the next four years.

King said he believes this is the time to build a new jail: Wilson is still in good shape and hasn't suffered from the deterioration that happens to every building that's been without daily use and maintenance.

Near the end of the Wilson Middle School tour, King paused in the former administration office and summed up his effort and his chances.

"This is like a dream I want to do, but I don't know if I can get it done," he said.

Contact Keith Roysdon at 765-213-5828 and follow him on Twitter: @keithroysdon