The proposed reconfiguration of Buford Middle School was the subject of headlines and hand-wringing for much of the past year, until Charlottesville City Council arrived at a less expensive solution to allow that project to proceed. Now, another long-overdue renovation of a public facility—the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail—is on the table, and questions about the cost and speed of the planning process have led to the ouster of a long-standing jail board member.
“I was doing my job in wanting to remind the board that we need to take the time to be mindful and deliberate,” says now former jail board member, attorney Cyndra Van Clief.
Van Clief says her removal was prompted by her vote at a March 10 meeting, when she was the only jail board member to come out against a resolution to notify the state that the jail would request reimbursement for 25 percent of a $49 million project estimate.
“I had talked to several board members and they, too, were very concerned about this ballooning cost,” says Van Clief, a Republican and self-described fiscal conservative who was concerned that the cost of the proposed renovation had soared and that taxpayers hadn’t had enough opportunity to give input on the project during pandemic Zoom meetings.
“We were moving too fast for 50-some million dollars which would set the future of our jail for the next 50 years, two generations,” says Van Clief, who raised the alarm after hearing figures like $50,000 to repaint floors. She wanted to hear more from the public about desired alternatives to incarceration including restorative justice.
“I knew the resolution would pass,” Van Clief says, describing her “no” vote as simply a suggestion to slow the process down and not an objection to improving conditions at the jail.
She says Albemarle Board of Supervisors Chair Donna Price asked for her resignation in early April, citing Van Clief’s opposition to the resolution, and the supervisors, all Democrats, voted unanimously for her removal at a closed session on April 20. A letter to Van Clief confirming her removal cites her “failure to act in the County’s best interest as determined by the Board of Supervisors.”
Both Price and Albemarle County Supervisor Diantha McKeel, chair of the ACRJ board, declined to comment on Van Clief’s removal. McKeel, however, addressed some of the questions Van Clief raised.
In an emailed statement, McKeel denies the process has been rushed. The pace, she writes, is determined by the state’s Community Based Corrections Plan timeline and the General Assembly budget. The process must be initiated by a January deadline or the jurisdiction has to wait until the following year.
McKeel says that the $49 million “is only an estimated cost” that’s been discussed at four jail board meetings, each with opportunity for public comment, as well as at presentations to each of the jail’s three member jurisdictions (Charlottesville, Albemarle, and Nelson) during March and April. A final cost will be presented to the board and the public this summer or fall. The proposed plan does not expand beds at the jail but instead improves conditions and adds space for classrooms and mental health treatment.
C-VILLE Weekly reached out to other ACRJ board members with questions about the renovation and Van Clief’s removal over her vote. None would comment on Van Clief, but City Councilor Sena Magill says she believes the estimated cost is reasonable.
“Having just passed $68 million for a school revamp, for one school, $50 million for a jail does not seem that far-fetched,” Magill says. “Not if we want a place that’s actually climate controlled.”
Albemarle County Sheriff Chan Bryant agreed with Van Clief that the resolution to notify the state was moved on with “lightning speed” to avoid missing the state deadline. Both she and Charlottesville Sheriff James Brown voted in favor of the resolution but want more public input on the plans before they’re finalized.
“We want to make sure we’re using taxpayer’s dollars wisely,” says Brown.
Van Clief shares her former fellow board members’ assessment that a jail renovation is badly needed. In fact, she says she’s the one who brought deplorable conditions in the women’s quarters to the board’s attention. “It was exposed metal, sharp, that you would get tetanus [from] or be cut,” she says, describing filthy conditions and a lack of natural light or fresh air.
Her concerns, she insists, stemmed from her desire to inform the public about the project before so much money is committed.
“We don’t want to put all of our resources right into just housing people,” she says. “We were about to make some decisions that would affect the future for the next 50 years, that could affect generations of people as to what the criminal justice system and our facilities and our whole entire approach as a community would be like.”
Jail tour reveals harsh conditions
The Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail was built in 1974, with an addition in the 1980s and an early 2000s renovation. The poor conditions don’t just impact people who are incarcerated there, says ACRJ Superintendent Martin Kumer; they are also a problem for staff and visitors.
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[A] “This is the most shameful part,” says Kumer on a recent tour of the jail. It’s the “administrative segregation” unit on the jail’s lower level, used primarily as a last resort punishment for violent infractions. Several small cells line one side of a hall not much wider than a human body. The space is illuminated by harsh fluorescent lights, and plexiglass covers the bars on the cell doors, a response, Kumer explains, to correctional officers being grabbed as they patrolled the area. The temperature is controlled by a chiller unit, which forces moist cold air directly into the cells making the term “temperature control” a misnomer.
[B] A high-walled brick courtyard covered by a fiberglass roof is the only outdoor area available to those housed at the ACRJ. “You could be here for a year and never feel sunlight on your skin,” says Kumer. The jail renovation would add an outdoor recreation area on a rooftop.
[C] A lack of ventilation is among the biggest concerns for Kumer and jail board members. There are no fresh-air intake ducts in much of the jail, which means the indoor air is recirculated. That makes preventing the spread of illness including COVID difficult or impossible.
[D] The 1974 wing of the jail will be demolished as part of the renovation. Kumer says new construction will be “trauma informed,” adding sound baffling and using calming colors to improve conditions for inmates and staff. There will be expanded space for classrooms and mental health treatment.—Courteney Stuart