Onondaga County Sheriff Toby Shelley is concerned about the proposal to merge Jamesville penitentiary with the Onondaga County Justice Center jail in Syracuse. County lawmakers are considering the plan that was announced before Shelley took office.
The apparent impetus and urgency behind closing Jamesville is to satisfy a legal settlement with the state on behalf of indigent defendants from several years ago.
Deputy County Executive Ann Rooney said at the legislature's Jan. 17 meeting the issue was related to the timely transportation of Jamesville inmates to the county court in downtown Syracuse.
"We are in violation of not getting the inmates over to court for their first appearance. The court system has been imploring us, for at least a year, that we are in violation because we are not getting those incarcerated over to court, often times in a timely manner, or, when the court docket has said they need to be there," Rooney said.
Merging the facilities would eliminate much of the transportation problem since the downtown jail is next door to the courthouse, and address staffing shortages. But Shelley said the solution is not simple and may create more problems than it aims to solve. He said as of this week, the roughly 120 inmates from Jamesville would increase the Justice Center capacity to about 84 percent.
"...which doesn't leave enough room for a classification issue, if inmates are arguing, bringing inmates from different gangs that can't be put together. It doesn't leave any capacity for COVID incidents," Shelley said. "When you start looking at how numbers trend within the jail, they go up as the weather gets warmer. So you get close to 90 percent, you may as well be at the overcrowded stage."
Shelley said closing Jamesville would mean losing a pod designed for pregnant women, mothers and babies, a separate mental health unit, and several other services the justice center can’t accommodate.
Another complicating factor is staffing. Jamesville and Justice Center deputies are represented by different unions, and former sheriff Gene Conway was unable to find common ground. Plus, there’s already an existing shortage. Sheriff Shelley said an informal survey this week shows a quarter to half of the 84 corrections officers at Jamesville said they would not transfer downtown.
"Combine them and all the people don't come down, you're in worse shape then than you are now. It doesn't fix your manpower situation whatsoever," Shelley said.
Shelley met with corrections commission officials last week in Albany, and they discussed the possibility of a feasibility study on the proposed merger that would thoroughly examine inmate populations and staffing levels. That could still be months away.
