DETROIT—After a 60-day suspension of construction on a new County jail, Robert Ficano’s administration presented what it believes are the best options for the project to the County Commission at a special meeting Aug. 14. 

Ficano’s administration has faced a lot of criticism about the jail exceeding its budget. According to a report, the latest estimates have the project costing nearly $391 million, and $300 million in bonds was approved for the project; $110 million has already been spent on it.  

The County looked at three options to the current project. One, and likely the most viable, is to sell the 14-acre parcel in downtown Detroit to a private developer and move the County’s criminal justice center to a different site such as the State of Michigan’s Mound Road facility. 

The second is to negotiate a public-private partnership that would complete the jail project on the current site with a 2,000 bed capacity with the private sector partner providing financing, construction and maintenance on the facility and a long term use agreement with the County.

The third, to continue with a downsized facility at the current site was also considered, however the diminished capacity compromises the functionality severely enough that the County has ruled out this option. 

Earlier this year, the State of Michigan offered a long-term lease of the Mound Road facility for $1 a year. There is significant renovation work required to modify it from a prison to a high-security jail that will house prisoners waiting for arraignments and trials along with other who are serving sentences of less than one year. 

The Mound Road prison is configured for much longer stays where sentenced prisoners have more freedom to move around within the facility. The County and State Department of Corrections have talked about how to renovate that facility as cost effectively as possible. 

In addition to renovating and building additional jail capacity at Mound Road, a new courthouse and juvenile detention facility would also need to be built to replace the current facilities in downtown Detroit. 

“We will be working with the State to find the most economically feasible way of modifying the Mound Road facility and building additional facilities at that location,” said Ficano. 

The County has been in discussions with the governor’s office to find ways to build a City-County-State partnership that provides efficiencies for all three.

For the County to move forward on any plans to move to the Mound Road location, a mutually agreed upon operating and renovation agreement would be required that addresses jail population management and efficiencies for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, Prosecutor and Courts.

A move to Mound Road would include selling the County’s current jails, criminal court and juvenile detention real estate holdings to help offset construction costs at a new site. 

On July 18, the County received five proposals in response to its Request for Information for alternative uses for the 14-acre parcel. The parcel includes the current construction site on Gratiot along with Frank Murphy Hall of Justice which houses the Prosecutor’s office and Courts, two jail facilities and the Juvenile Detention Facility. Since then, a panel reviewed the proposals and invited three of the respondents to make presentations. Each was asked to provide a term-sheet with their best offer. 

The County was expected to recommend terminating contracts for the current construction, for convenience to save funds, not for cause, at a special meeting of the Wayne County Building Authority Aug. 15.

The County will continue with negotiations and due diligence with the State of Michigan and interested purchasers to determine whether a sale and move to Mound Road is financially feasible. 

Negotiating an agreement for a public private partnership could take months.