Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon’s office has until Tuesday to provide details to the state on how it plans to close the Jamesville Correctional Facility. The requirements are made clear in a letter from the Commission of Correction.
Commission Chair Allen Riley says the commission first learned of the plans to consolidate inmates and staff at the downtown justice center from the media. In his letter, he indicates he’s following up with McMahon because he never heard back after reaching out in mid-December.
"After failing to receive a response from Sheriff Conway before leaving office, or any other county official, Commission staff met with new Sheriff Tobias Shelley and provided him a copy of the December 13, 2022 letter," Riley said.
Riley is requesting a plan on how correctional officers will be reassigned and trained at their new workplace, plus how medical and mental health services will be provided to the additional inmates. Details are listed below.
In the letter, Riley says commission staff has met with new sheriff Toby Shelley, who told them his office is unable to relocate everyone at the Justice Center due to capacity and facility concerns. Riley says the commission will evaluate if the consolidation plan would jeopardize the safety of inmates, staff, or the public, and if it violates commission regulations.
Riley tells McMahon that the commission has the authority through court orders to force compliance with regulations that establish minimum standards for facilities and proper care of inmates.
"Where the Commission finds that such regulations are being, or about to be, violated, Article 3 of the Correction Law provides the Commission authority to enforce such regulations, including to petition for judicial order," Riley said in the letter.
County officials have repeatedly asserted that the commission has no such authority, and that a binding resolution approved by lawmakers this week tasks Sheriff Shelley with submitting the requested information, not the county executive.
Commission spokesperson Kirstan Conley says in a statement that the letter speaks for itself.
"We will not have anything further to offer until the commission receives the required information from the county executive and has an opportunity to assess the plan,” Conley said.
This is the information being requested by the commission from the letter:
• A detailed description of Onondaga County’s plan to close the Onondaga Correctional Facility, to include a detailed timeline with relevant milestones;
• An account of the planned reassignment of Correctional Facility security and civilian staff to the Justice Center, to include available resources for advance training in the operations of the Justice Center, incorporating physical plant familiarization, equipment and systems operation, and post assignments;
• A report of the plan to ensure the continuity of medical and mental health services provided to incarcerated individuals following consolidation;
• A list of current and planned construction and renovation projects at the Justice Center, to include description, location, and estimated/actual start and completion dates; and
• Any other record or information necessary to assist the Commission’s evaluation of the county’s proposed consolidation.
