Montgomery County officials announced a plan to renovate the old wing of the county jail on Friday, September 22. It will cost $20 million and adds 100 beds for people in the jail experiencing a psychiatric or medical crisis.
The jail currently houses 600people, though that number used to be higher prior to the pandemic—within the last five years bookings for misdemeanor offenses dropped 26%. But recently, more people in the jail are experiencing mental health crises or medical issues related to drug use, which resulted in a 450% increase in trips to the hospital for severe medical incidents, Montgomery County Sheriff Rob Streck said.
“This is the most physically ill, mentally ill, and addicted population we have ever dealt with,” Streck said. “Cardiovascular, gastro, and endocrine issues are significantly higher than they've ever been because of our continuing issues with substance abuse.”
The jail currently has 898 general population beds and 12 medical beds. The planned changes to the jail will all be made within the current facility.
Montgomery County Commission President Debbie Lieberman, said the planning for the renovations took six years and involved input from a justice committee comprised of local community members. In 2019, that group recommended the jail be replaced with a more modern facility. An engineering consulting company hired by the county estimated the new facility would cost upwards of $200 million.
“That cost was simply out of our range." Lieberman said, "so we asked for an architect to design a space utilizing existing square footage that could provide more room for detox, suicide prevention, treatment, and medical care as well as better intake management and juvenile booking.”
The county’s medical and mental health contract with its third-party provider, Naphcare (a company that has been sued in other states for malpractice and neglect), increased from $3.7 million to $7 million in 2019, according to Streck. Still, the county has reported seven deathsat the jail so far this year. Five of the deaths have been linked to drug use. Naphcare told the Dayton Daily News in June that opioid withdrawal at the Montgomery County Jail is ten times more frequent compared to other correctional facilities of a similar size. More people have died at the jail this year than the last two years combined, according to county jail records.
Streck said rising medical costs at hospitals have also created an urgent need to equip the facility to handle its own medical issues.
County officials said they are working to create a county-level dashboard with information that allows courts, law enforcement, and jail staff to streamline care for people who are incarcerated too.
Joel Pruce, an associate professor of political science at the University of Dayton and a member of the Montgomery County Jail Coalition — an anti-mass incarceration group — said the lack of transparency from county officials surrounding the jail renovation is disappointing.
“It's just unacceptable that so much work has gone on to develop this plan behind closed doors and to reveal it in this way where they've already contracted with an architect to begin the planning,” Pruce said. "And so regardless of the plan, the process is unacceptable."
Pruce added that a more worthwhile use of the money in his view would have been to fund diversion programs, like the planned mental health and substance abuse center at the former St. Elizabeth medical facility, rather than jailing people in crisis.
“All things being equal, we would prefer to see twenty million dollars spent on health care infrastructure in the community rather than infrastructure in the jail,” Pruce said. “If you put health care in the community, you're dealing with the root causes that then appear in the jail.”
Renovations for the new facility could begin by late 2024. The money for the upgrades will come from the county’s American Rescue Act fund and opioid settlement money.
Alejandro Figueroa is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
