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Committee discusses jail, behavioral-health facilities and reentry supports; public engagement to follow owner’s representative
Summary
The committee reviewed planned facilities — including a new jail and behavioral health treatment center, a 23-hour crisis relief center and other sites — and stressed the need to coordinate public engagement, transportation on release, and wraparound housing and services.
At its Feb. 20 meeting the Justice Project Oversight and Planning Committee reviewed facility-related strategies in the Justice Project implementation plan and discussed steps to coordinate design, public engagement and reentry supports.
Committee members heard that the owner’s representative for the new jail and behavioral health treatment center (SVC STV) has been hired and that public engagement on design is expected in spring but remains contingent on the owner’s representative’s schedule. The committee postponed detailed follow-up on jail design until staff can better coordinate with that consultant team.
Dean, speaking during the facilities discussion, recommended elevating the county-owned property at 2030 Division Street — where a clinic and recent event were held — as part of a broader behavioral-health campus. “I think the importance and value of 2030 Division Street when it comes to a behavioral health campus” should be considered in planning, Dean said, noting the site’s existing services and partners.
Members also discussed a proposed 23-hour crisis relief center, expanding supportive housing (noting $7,000,000 tied to the Trueblood funding referenced in the packet), and identifying additional daytime and respite facilities. Jason, the committee’s therapeutic courts manager, praised the weigh station and the county’s way station as examples of needed daytime services and said more daytime centers are required for people seeking shelter or help.
Several participants recommended that any new jail or behavioral-health facility include a release “portal” or space where people leaving custody can warm up, access a staffed resource area and wait for transportation — a model some members saw in a visit to Columbus. Participants said a small facility that served as the immediate departure point could ensure coordinated handoffs to housing, medical care and community services.
The committee discussed transportation to a “safe destination” on release and suggested pairing transportation protocols with a staffed release area to improve continuity of care. Members noted ongoing constraints: workforce shortages that make program expansion challenging, housing scarcity that limits placements for people leaving custody, and the county’s limited control over certain assets and funding sources.
Next steps: staff will coordinate timing for public engagement with the owner’s representative and return to the committee with a clearer plan for community outreach, schedules for public forums, and project-level designs and metrics. No formal action or vote was taken at the meeting.
