BUFFALO, N.Y. — Earlier in 2023 Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz mentioned the idea of a new county jail with a significant $100 million to 200 Million dollar cost. Now, a study will begin to see if it's needed and worth it.
2 On Your Side spoke with Erie County Sheriff John Garcia.
A plaque on the wall says it all with the 1938 construction date of the Erie County Jail. Sheriff John Garcia says it is his opinion the 80-year-plus structure downtown on Delaware Avenue and the additional Alden Correctional Facility which was built in 1985 for overcrowding are now antiquated and no longer suitable for today's justice system.
Garcia explained "They're not conducive to what corrections is about today which is about programming, recidivism. Right? And the programming we do have - it's very very successful and we want to expand that. But we're limited. We don't have classrooms. The design of the Erie County Holding Center - the linear design was meant so people could not escape. And it's a maze but it's very labor intensive."
No actual site or design would be in that $750,000 feasibility study but there would be input from architects, corrections experts, the public, and advocates for the incarcerated on the need for such a new facility.
But Garcia contends a centralized facility with a better environment for jail officers, who sometimes must currently work mandated overtime to staff both facilities, would also actually save taxpayers in the long run. "A cost savings of tens of millions of dollars. I think staffing costs - it'd be very conservative to say between 20 and 25 million dollars per year."
2 On Your Side asked "You talk about cost savings, you talk about the efficiency of the structure, the need possibly to come in with new programs - but do you think you will face some opposition in trying to get this done?
Garcia responded "The only opposition I have seen are groups that say they don't want a study done for a new jail - that we shouldn't have this jail. The opposition that I have seen are people that say we don't need a jail at all - that utopian society we don't live in."
Garcia added "This is built as a jail. It has cells. It's not built for education and programs and so forth. But that's what corrections - right? - "Corrections" are now in the 21st century. And you know it's a win-win. If we have individuals that go out to the community and don't commit crimes again because they have housing, they're having medication and counseling for their addictions, they have a job - it's a win."