PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) — A resolution submitted by a council member and placed on Tuesday’s City Council agenda proposes closing the city jail by August 15.
The resolution in Tuesday’s agenda says the jail has “significantly deteriorated over time” since it was constructed in 1969.
“… [I]ndependent consultants have reviewed the condition of the Crawford Jail
and it has been estimated that the cost of maintaining the Jail as habitable in the near term will
likely exceed $31 million,” the resolution reads.
The city said it does have have the financial resources to fix the jail and also fund other necessary services like education.
The resolution is the latest in a back-and-forth battle between Portsmouth City Sheriff Michael Moore and other city officials over the fate of the jail.
In July 2019, the city’s building and code official decided to condemn the city jail and the rest of the civic center after reportedly finding problems with the fire suppression system and unsanitary conditions.
The sheriff sued the city over the condemnation.
Months later, in December, the city filed a petition in court to move the jail’s inmates to the Hampton Roads Regional Jail. Portsmouth pays close to $6 million a year to have 250 beds available at that facility for its inmates.
This January, a Portsmouth judge ruled the city jail cannot be condemned and the city needed to complete repairs. At the conclusion of previous hearings, a judge urged both sides to try to work things out outside of court.
Tuesday’s resolution says the Hampton Roads Regional Jail was constructed decades later, in 1996, is in much better condition, and is “better suited” to house and care for inmates.
The resolution also echoes what was said in the court petition in December: Portsmouth is not using much of its share of beds at the HRRJ, despite paying for it.
In an August 2012 resolution, City Council also said the Civic Center, and by association, the jail, is badly deteriorated and at of past the end of its usable life. Also in that resolution, City Council said it was in the public interest to demolish the Civic Center as soon as it’s practical to do so.
Council will meet March 10. The resolution is listed for consideration under “New Business.”