Public survey on possibility of new Pima County jail opens

The group tasked with evaluating the possibility of building a new Pima County jail is opening its survey for public input before their final report is submitted.

The Pima County Adult Detention Center Blue Ribbon Commission survey will go live Tuesday, Dec. 26, according to a Dec. 13 letter commission chair Daniel Sharp sent Jan Lesher, the Pima County administrator.

The survey will remain open until Jan. 13.

The commission’s final report is expected to be submitted to the county on Jan. 31.

Sharp, in his letter, said the group will finalize its results after considering public input from the survey. The group’s initial findings, which Sharp said were meant to inform the public of their “limited options,” were released Friday.

“The Commission has drafted most of the report but will not finalize until after the public survey results are available for our review,” Sharp wrote. “At that time, the Commission will consider any additions or revisions to the draft report based on survey results…”

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Sharp continued, that based on the current condition of the Pima County jail, “factors impacting operations, and feasible funding options” and other elements, there are “limited options to address the current real and growing needs to the facility that impact inmates, Corrections and medical staff.”

The 10-person commission was appointed by Lesher in December 2022 to recommend whether it makes sense to build a new facility.

In February, the Pima County Board of Supervisors approved the commission’s membership, charter and work timeline. The group was given 180 days to assess the need for a new detention center and determining how to pay for it.

The “draft findings report” was delayed to November by request of Sharp in a letter to Lesher dated Oct. 3. But the report missed that deadline, too. Sharp, in his Dec. 13 letter, said “with the holiday and everyone’s schedules,” he apologizes for the delay and not “completing this task.”

Initial estimates placed the construction of a new jail to cost the county up to $380 million. A half-cent sales tax would fund it, as previously reported by the Arizona Daily Star.

In August, the commission had its public hearing abruptly adjourned after it was disrupted by protesters who objected to the commission not including the high number of deaths at the jail among factors to be assessed.