JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — During Tuesday night’s Jacksonville city council meeting, the city and the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office gave us a glimpse into what the path forward for the new Duval County jail looks like.
“We went through a process to ultimately make recommendations to the community as to three potential sites that the jail, the juvenile shelter, and the misdemeanor prison could be on,” said Mike Weinstein, Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Jacksonville.
The city’s contract with CGL is expected to cost roughly $750,000.
“This is basically only to find three potential sites for all the three facilities. And get some better estimates on populations for the three sites, but absolutely nothing beyond that,” said Weinstein.
Part of CGL’s job is to determine the criteria needed to decide where to build the new jail.
Action News Jax first told you when residents in Jacksonville’s historic black neighborhoods spoke out against having a new jail built in their community.
We asked Weinstein what his message is to people who don’t want the jail in their neighborhood.
“They will have adequate input as to where it ends up going. They have council members. It’s a political decision as well as an efficiency decision,” said Weinstein. One of the major variables is to what surrounds the area and what the community around there feels like.”
We reached out to Councilman Jimmy Peluso, who previously stated he does not want the jail placed in his district, for a comment. He replied:
“I intend to file my resolution calling for the jail to be nowhere in a redlined area. That’s my main priority.”
During the process, there will be two public input meetings before a final plan is presented to the city council. The company says it could take about 11 months to complete its part of this project.
Weinstein says CGL should get to work before the end of the month.
He also said he believes they are at least four or five years away from a new jail being in operation.
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