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County Board Votes to Address Life and Safety Concerns for City County Building Jail

June 17, 2016
County Board Chair Sharon Corrigan, 608.333.2285
County Board

Last night the Dane County Board of Supervisors directed consulting firm Mead and Hunt to research strategies for short-term repairs and procedures to mitigate current safety concerns in the City County Building (CCB) Jail until it is fully decommissioned.  Mead and Hunt will develop life and safety mitigation projects and develop an exit strategy for the jail located on the 6th and 7th floors of the City County Building.

 

“This resolution is about moving forward now to address the immediate, extremely serious life-safety issues we have with our 60-year old maximum security jail,” said Supervisor Paul Rusk, Chair of the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee.  “The resolution directs a consultant to develop a list of building improvements with a cost for each item, and the County Board will then choose a course of action on specific items.  This is the next critical step,” he concluded.

 

Mead and Hunt presented an initial report to County Board committees last month which indicated excessive costs to bring the 1954 CCB Jail to state and federal code.  At that time, the Public Protection and Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to direct the consultants 1) not to move forward with options to remodel the City-County Building jail, and 2) to prepare two options for remodeling the Public Safety Building including developing appropriate facilities for inmates with mental health issues.   

 

“Improving the jail is one part of the larger picture –comprehensive  improvement of our criminal justice system,” said County Board Chair Sharon Corrigan.  “We must address the very real concerns about the physical space in the CCB jail.  But even as we continue to consider greater options for the jail as a whole, we need to remember to strive to improve and innovate the entire criminal justice system from arrest through prosecution and conviction,” she added. 

 

At the same meeting, the Board welcomed the 2016-17 class of Youth Governance Program participants.  The participants are: Stella Bush, Erika Esparza, H. Joseph Finkelmeyer, Kiara Gray, Kimberly Gehrmann, Nishita Karri, Abby Last, Alan Morales, Tessa Reilly, Jacob Smith, Mason Sponem, and Garrett Stolen.  These students are from throughout the county, attending high school in Verona, Monona Grove, Sun Prairie, Waunakee, and Oregon, as well as Madison East, West, and LaFollette high schools.  One student is home schooled. The youth will serve on six of the seven standing committees. 

 

The Youth Governance Program facilitates hearing the youth voice in local government and provides leadership opportunities to Dane County high school-aged residents.

 

About the County Board of Supervisors

The 37-member, nonpartisan Dane County Board of Supervisors represents the needs and welfare of all citizens of Dane County, Wisconsin, and sets policy for County operations in the areas of health, human needs, infrastructure, criminal justice, the environment and County finance. The Board meets twice monthly.

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