Kids, nothing has changed since November. I voted in favor of the new Justice Center then and next week, I'll be voting in favor of it again. I don't really have a lot to add to the existing discussion of this issue but I'll just say this:
1. I am against the industrialization of our prisons. I find it inherently dangerous this idea of monetizing everything because sooner or later some company somewhere is going to get it into their heads that the more people they put in prison, the more money they're going to make. Johnson County spends a sizable sum of money each year sending our inmates to other counties because we don't have the space to house them. I wanted to see a proposal for the new jail that balances the need for future growth while limiting the opportunities for Johnson County to cash in by housing inmates from other counties as well. The reduction in the proposed size of the Jail (as well as the reduction in cost) since November addresses those concerns nicely.
2. I keep hearing a lot about 'disproportionate minority contact.' I'm not entirely sure what that means but I think it means that jail opponents want to paint law enforcement in the county as inherently racist. Where are these arrests coming from? Are they officer initiated calls or calls that officers are dispatched too? (The racism charge would be easier to prove with the former, not so much with the latter.) Disraeli once said that there were only three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics. As a lifelong townie, it was a hard realization to come too, but really and truly underneath the veneer of progressive tolerance and academic hoity-toity-ness Iowa City is just a hick town that happens to have a University in it. And if there's one truth about hick towns its that hicks don't like outsiders- the race issue in Iowa City goes way beyond the issue of the Jail.
3. If voting against the jail would end the war on drugs or produce more sensible laws about alcohol enforcement, I would do it in a heartbeat. But it won't do any of those things and voting against it to make a point about the war on drugs just seems, well, self-defeating somehow. It won't help and doesn't change the fact we need a new jail.
4. If people really want more money drug diversion programs or a drunk tank for students instead of intox arrests, well then, we need someplace to put them.
I don't think this is going to pass. I think Sporkgate (an inmate at the Jail was charged with destruction of property or something for breaking her jail-issued spork. The charges were dropped but it was all over the local media) and this sudden emergence of a locking issue that will require clearing out the Jail for a couple of months at great cost were bad PR that Justice Center proponents didn't need and the quick turnaround time between November and May gives the impression that the County wants to rush this through. Which, given the need is somewhat understandable but at the same time, there are some real, valid concerns out there and a six month time period between votes doesn't give the impression that the county is listening all that hard.
Undoubtedly, they'll try again and while the arguments for and against are many none of them can obscure the fact that I think most everyone agrees on: we need a new Jail.
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