The Dane County Board Black Caucus has agreed to support $13.5 million in additional funding, funded through a 20-year bond issue, to build the six-story jail favored by Sheriff Kalvin Barrett, in exchange for reforms to reduce the jail population and improve the quality of life for residents of the jail.
The agreement was announced in a press conference Wednesday.
The members of the Black Caucus — Supervisors Dana Pellebon, April Kigeya, Anthony Gray and Jacob Wright — have favored a plan to build a five-story jail with funding already allocated. Caucus members and others have argued that the county could build a smaller jail by reducing the jail population through criminal justice reforms.
That plan was initially rejected by the County Board, then passed as an amendment to the county budget, and ultimately vetoed by County Executive Joe Parisi, leaving the six-story jail plan $13.5 million short.
Barrett has supported the six-story plan, and has urged movement on the project as he has characterized conditions in the current jail as inhumane and unconstitutional.
“Voting for funding without reforms was a non-starter,” Pellebon said at the press conference. “In talking with the Black Caucus, the community activists and other members of the county board, we were able to articulate to Sheriff Barrett important issues that needed to be addressed before moving forward on this vote.”
While the Black Caucus has agreed to vote in favor of the funding and jail plan, Barrett has agreed to reduce the jail population by ending the contract with the federal government to house federal prisoners in transit by November 1. Barrett said at any given time, about 45-55 federal prisoners reside at the Dane County Jail — approximately five to six percent of the jail population.
Additionally, Barrett pledged to support the transfer of Huber services to the Department of Health Services, and to provide more reporting on jail population trends to the County Board.
Barrett and the Caucus have also agreed to support the establishment of a mental health court and expanded alternatives to incarceration for youth. Barrett also said the new jail, which a full floor of medical and mental health facilities, would eliminate the need for solitary confinement.
“We will continue to support the resources for housing, recovery and treatment for Dane County residents. we need to get to the root causes of incarceration and crime in Dane County,” Barrett said. “The biggest one is poverty. We have to ensure an advocate for affordable housing, affordable health care, affordable mental health care, affordable transportation, affordable education, entrepreneurship, and most importantly, fair and equal treatment for all of our Dane County community members.
“Today’s a great day,” Barrett continued. “A lot of work has been put into this. A lot of collaboration, a lot of trust. But we are here because we both sat down at the table and did what was best for the people of our community.”
County Board Chair Patrick Miles, the sponsor of the resolution, praised the two sides for coming together.
“I give them a lot of credit,” he said. “There’s a momentum to public service that wants to go with the status quo. I give (the Black Caucus) a lot of credit for sticking to their convictions, but remaining open to trying to find consensus. And I appreciate the sheriff as well, coming to the table, to let go of some things and see what we can do to work this out to move forward.”
The full County Board will vote on the resolution tomorrow night.
