Dallas County to consider demolishing county jail

DALLAS — Dallas County commissioners are contemplating whether or not to transfer the county jail and prison courthouse from the western fringe of downtown, probably opening a whole lot of acres of prime actual property to growth that would completely change town skyline.

“We’re looking at what would be best,” county Judge Clay Jenkins instructed WFAA. “Can you make this one over [during] the next decade or two into the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars – constantly adding to the jail so it stays up to code or is it cheaper and wiser to build another one?”

The jail dates again to the Eighties. Keeping up with altering jail requirements on how and the place to home inmates has price the county thousands and thousands in renovations through the years.

The Lew Sterrett Justice Center sits behind the Frank Crowley Courts Building on the nook of W. Commerce Street and Riverfront Boulevard on the western fringe of the Dallas skyline. To the south sits the now deserted state jail and a big floor car parking zone. To the north is an empty lot that has gone undeveloped for years.

Thirty years in the past, it was an underutilized a part of the city core. Today, it’s a profitable piece of land sitting between Dallas’ two iconic Calatrava bridges.

A brand new jail may very well be smaller and smarter than the 7,200-bed capability facility at the moment in use, Jenkins mentioned.

A brand new one could be designed for violent offenders – not for these inmates with habit and psychological well being points.

“If you can build it smarter and it leads to getting cops back on the street faster, that’s a savings,” the choose continued.

County commissioners already agreed to type a committee to make a advice on what to do. Next month, commissioners will formally identify the members of that committee.

Jenkins mentioned he’ll appoint Noé Hinojosa, Jr. He is the chairman and chief govt officer of Estrada Hinojosa, a Dallas-based funding banking agency. 

Commissioner J.J. Koch instructed WFAA that he has requested Jeff Spivey, the previous police chief of Irving to sit on the committee. Commissioners Theresa Daniel, Elba Garcia and John Wiley Price will choose the remainder of the group.

“Our useful life for our current jail is probably done in about five years. So, we need to have a plan for replacement certainly within 10 years, optimally within eight,” commissioner Koch instructed WFAA.

“There may be some people that say ‘judge, just fix the old one. It’s cheaper.’ Well, that sometimes can be true. But if you’ve ever redone an old building or old house, sometimes that can be as expensive to fix up and build as a new one,” Jenkins defined. “I’m interested to hear what the public has to say. It will be a very thoughtful process.”

But this dialogue is rather a lot larger than simply probably erecting a brand new, smarter jail. 

If Dallas County strikes the lockup and its prison courthouse, it might return a whole lot of acres of profitable land downtown again to the property tax rolls and unencumber prime actual property on the western fringe of the skyline.

“When [former Dallas] Mayor Mike Rawlings and I were trying to lure the [Texas] Rangers we were able to build with the Dawson Jail – the empty jail next door – if we knocked that down, there’s enough room to put a [major league] baseball field. But if you add all of that other land – obviously the Rangers are where they are, we’re not getting the Rangers, if you get all that land, you can do something really big and special,” Jenkins instructed WFAA.

A brand new county jail, by state legislation, would have to be inside 4 miles of downtown, Jenkins added. 

It’s possible to take up to a 12 months for the soon-to-be appointed county committee to make a advice.