With eye on 2026 voter referendum to pay for project, County Commission majority agrees with staff proposal for construction of new facilities in downtown Sarasota to ease jail overcrowding

Consultant to assist staff with devising more refined cost details to be brought back to board no later than January 2025

On Oct. 23, following their latest discussion about the continued over-capacity of the jail in downtown Sarasota, the county commissioners directed staff to come back to them as soon as possible with more detailed information from a consultant, including costs, for options to ameliorate the situation.

The next discussion likely will take place in December or January 2025, Brad Gaubatz, manager of the county’s Capital Projects Department, said.

The commissioners also discussed the fact that they are facing a tight timeline to complete all the planning necessary for a November 2026 voter referendum on the overall expense of the construction scenario that seems to work best to relieve the overcrowding.

The Sarasota County Charter limits how much money the county can borrow without voter approval.

“This is one area where the can has been kicked down the road so often, we’re in a real problem area right now,” Commissioner Ron Cutsinger pointed out. “We need to move quickly.”

Cutsinger made the formal motion for the next step. The motion also called for county staff to begin discussions about the plans as soon as possible with City of Sarasota staff. Commissioner Neil Rainford emphasized that in an effort to prevent what he called “a hang-up with the city,” since the new construction would take place within city limits.

Commissioner Mark Smith reported that he “took the liberty of contacting the city to see if we could get a variance on height, and I was politely told, ‘No.’ So we have limitations that I’m sure some of you all are aware of.”

County Administrator Lewis told the board members that city staff has been aware of the jail overcrowding issues for about six years; the current members of the City Commission know about the situation, as well.

The height of buildings in the Downtown Core zoning district, where the county’s Criminal Justice Center stands, is restricted to 10 stories.

As a result, Smith added, he also believes it would be best for the county to plan for any new construction on parcels the county owns, though Gaubatz noted some City of Sarasota property exists in the vicinity of the Historic Courthouse, the Silvertooth Judicial Center and the Criminal Justice Center.

Chair Michael Moran stressed the need to educate the public about the urgency of providing sufficient space for people who are incarcerated.

When Commissioner Rainford asked what would happen if the referendum failed, County Administrator Lewis noted the likelihood that the federal government would impose a Consent Order, dictating that the county provide adequate room for inmates to protect those inmates’ civil rights.

Lewis also took the opportunity to remind the commissioners that a change in state law about four years ago expressly forbids county governments from pursuing any type of educational campaign ahead of a referendum — unless an organization specifically asks for a presentation, Lewis indicated.

Nonetheless, Lewis said, whenever he is asked “the top five biggest things people should be worried about in Sarasota County, this is, if not the top of the list, very near the top,” referring to the overcrowding in the jail. “[Expanding the inmate capacity] has to get done.”

Moran further noted a question in the 2024 Citizen Opinion Survey for the county, which was to be presented later during the Oct. 23 meeting. (See the related article in this issue.) A question that the commissioners asked to be included in the survey about the jail situation found that only 32% of the 1,250 respondents said they considered it to be “Very important” for the county “to invest in a new facility to prevent further overcrowding.”

“So I would suggest we have a serious amount of work to do,” Moran pointed out.

“Data and information is powerful,” Commissioner Joe Neunder added.

Although the jail’s official operating capacity is 836, as the survey question noted, the number of people in the jail recently had been as high as 1,195, Commissioner Rainford said.

The highest count The Sarasota News Leader found in the jail population reports from Sept. 16 through Oct. 23 was 1,196, which was recorded on Oct. 19.

Moreover, Lewis warned that a future sheriff could tell the County Commission that since the county owns the jail, the county would have to be fully responsible for dealing with all of the problems. He would in no way expect such a response from Sheriff Kurt A. Hoffman, Lewis made clear.

“I think it needs to be blunt, in how the public hears that,” Rainford said.

During their Oct. 23 discussion with Gaubatz, the Capital Projects manager, a majority of the board members favored one construction proposal that Gaubatz had shown them. That would entail building a new Criminal Justice Center on the site of the county-owned parking lot at the intersection of U.S. 301 and Main Street in downtown Sarasota. Then, the decades-old Criminal Justice Center, on the north side of Ringling Boulevard in downtown Sarasota, could be demolished and replaced.

The goal, commissioners stressed, is to ensure that whatever construction takes place will provide enough capacity for the jail in the future. Commissioner Smith put it thus: “As the county grows, we also grow some bad people … and we’re going to need a place to put them.”

Back to January

Early on during his remarks, Gaubatz noted that the last time the board members had discussed the jail concerns and the referendum was in late January. At that time, he said it would likely be the first half of 2032 before new correctional facilities could be built. He reiterated the 2032 timeline on Oct. 23.

In January, Gaubatz also focused on a proposal that the county’s Criminal Justice Commission — which includes the chief judge of the 12th Judicial Circuit Court, District 12 State Attorney Ed Brodsky and District 12 Public Defender Larry Eger — and representatives of the Sheriff’s Office. That proposal regarded a Sarasota County Correctional Reintegration Center, which would allow the Sheriff’s Office to remove from the jail individuals who have mental health and substance abuse issues, so they can receive the appropriate treatment with the hope that that will reduce recidivism.

The facility was described to past commissions, as well, as a means of reducing the overcrowding in the jail.

The Jan. 30 discussion further focused on the fact that the inmates in the West Wing of the jail — the detention center’s oldest structure — could be relocated to the new Center while the West Wing was renovated.

On Oct. 23, Gaubatz reiterated his earlier estimate that the 300-bed Center would cost approximately $150 million.

He noted that county staff had hired a “very well qualified jail design consultant” to work on the issues with county staff. As a result of the consultant’s efforts, Gaubatz continued, with data provided by the Sheriff’s Office, the determination was made that “there would be little or no increase in beds [for inmates] because, basically the size [of the necessary bed space] has increased since [the jail] was built a long time ago.”

He showed the board members a slide depicting both the rated capacity and the operational capacity of each wing of the jail, plus that of the Correctional Reintegration Center. The total rated capacity, at 100%, would be 1,209, Gaubatz pointed out, while the operational capacity, at 85%, would be 1,028.

Moreover, he continued, presenting another slide, given the expected population growth in the county, the deficit in the bed count has been projected to climb to 375 by 2031. When the Center opened in 2032, he said, the deficit would fall to 133 before rising again in subsequent years.

When Gaubatz discussed the option for a new Criminal Justice Center to stand on the parking lot site at Main Street and U.S. 301, he also noted that after all of the offices and staff had been moved out of the old building on Ringling Boulevard, that structure could be demolished and then replaced by a combination of space in lieu of the West Wing of the jail, plus the Correctional Reintegration Center. That also would open up the potential for demolishing the current West Wing of the jail and allowing that site to serve for future expansion options.

“This is going to be a tough pill for the taxpayer to swallow,” Commissioner Rainford said, “no matter which way we decide to go with it. … Obviously, things have gone up in cost,” as well, he added.

Rainford was the first to express his support for the new Criminal Justice Center on the parking lot site, followed by construction of the replacement West Wing and Correctional Reintegration Center on the former Criminal Justice Center property.

The greater the inmate capacity, the better, Rainford also stressed, given the recent jail population counts.

Commissioner Smith agreed with Rainford about the Main Street/U.S. 301 parking lot option.

Commissioner Cutsinger concurred with them. Although he expressed the desire to see the best possible, total construction estimate, Cutsinger added, “Obviously, it’s going to be a big number. … In my mind, we really don’t have a choice.”

Chair Moran did ask Gaubatz, “Do you see any scenario in the universe where this could be done without a voter referendum?” Gaubatz replied, “No.”