JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Residents in Jacksonville’s historic Black neighborhoods say they do not want a new Duval County jail built in their community without their input — and they made that clear during a packed public meeting at City Hall on Friday.
Jacksonville City Councilmember Jimmy Peluso is pushing a new resolution that would officially block those neighborhoods from even being considered as potential locations.
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With the search underway for a site to replace Jacksonville’s aging jail, longtime residents say they’re bracing for déjà vu — fearing the city could place another major project in their backyard without their input.
That concern stems from the Brentwood neighborhood, where residents woke up to find construction underway on a new Medical Examiner’s Office, despite months of pushback.
“We don’t want what happened in Brentwood where we woke up one day and the coroner was there. We don’t want that with the new jail,” resident Larry Henderson said.
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Peluso said his approach is intentional, using decades-old red-lining boundaries to protect communities that have historically been overlooked or overburdened.
“The map we have is based on what the city looked like from 1934, so it’s changed quite a bit,” Peluso said. “We already passed a resolution based on red-lining. This is the second part of that.”
Residents and city leaders also weighed in on what the process for selecting the jail’s future site may look like. Chief Administrative Officer Mike Weinstein said the city expects consultants to come back soon with multiple options.
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“Probably in a month we’ll have an agreement with the company to help us start,” Weinstein said. “And they have the obligation to deliver to us three sites — size wise, transportation wise — and deal with community issues.”
But one of the most consistent messages from the audience was frustration — and skepticism — over whether public feedback will truly influence the outcome.
“Has anyone on City Council given an opinion on where the jail should be located? I take that as a no,” Joseph George, president of the North Florida Central Labor Council, said.
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Peluso reiterated that his priority is to protect historic, predominantly Black neighborhoods and ensure they are not considered for the new jail — a stance that other council members echoed.
“Everybody deserves dignity,” Councilwoman Ju’Coby Pittman said. “The community deserves to have input to empower them to be part of a big process.”
Peluso told Action News Jax he expects to formally file his resolution after the new year.
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