‘People don’t get well in a cell’
Charlottesville City Council passed a resolution last week supporting the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail’s request for state funding for a massive $49 million renovation project. Jail leadership hopes the state will contribute around $12 million, leaving the three localities that use the facility—the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle and Nelson counties—on the hook for the rest.
In addition to upgrading and replacing the 46-year-old jail’s HVAC units, electrical systems, lighting, and air filtration, the renovations will add outdoor recreation space, classrooms, programming space, bathrooms, and a larger visitation area. The housing areas will be upgraded with stress-reducing colors, more natural sunlight, and sound-deadening materials. For years, people incarcerated at the jail have called attention to numerous health and sanitary issues, including black mold, poor plumbing, leaky ceilings, standing water, freezing temperatures, and bug infestations.
The renovations will also create a dedicated mental health unit—which some community members spoke out against during last week’s City Council meeting, calling for more mental health-support resources that do not involve police or prisons.
“People don’t get well in a cell,” said Kate Fraleigh. “Those resources should go to community-based programs.”
“If there’s money for locking people up, there is surely money for treating those in crisis,” added Gloria Beard. “If anything, being locked up creates mental health issues.”
ACRJ superintendent Martin Kumer emphasized that the renovations will not increase the jail’s capacity—40 beds currently at the jail will be demolished during the renovations, and moved to the new mental health unit upon completion. If a bed is not needed for someone experiencing a mental health crisis, then it will be used for the jail’s general population.
“A lot of the critics forget that it is not up to the jail or to the City Council to decide that we are going to imprison people with mental illness,” said Mayor Lloyd Snook in response to concerns voiced during public comment. “It is frankly in most cases the product of judges having no good choice … [or] there’s no other way to protect society from someone who is mentally ill because we have no good way to compel them to receive treatment when they’re on the outside.”
“The only thing we can do is to make sure that if they’re going to require that somebody with a mental illness be locked up, we are at least trying our best to have some way of getting those people at least some help,” added Snook.
The Virginia Board of Local and Regional Jails is expected to vote on ACRJ’s funding request this month. Once it approves the funding, the member jurisdictions will be asked to fund their portion of the renovations, based on the number of people they have incarcerated at the jail.
Next June, the jail plans to advertise a request for proposals, and hire an architectural engineer for the renovations. Construction is expected to begin in August 2024 and finish in November 2025.
In brief
Out of retirement?
Former Charlottesville police chief RaShall Brackney is one of three finalists to be the next police chief in Minneapolis, where George Floyd was murdered by MPD officer Derek Chauvin in 2020. In February, Brackney—who has filed a $10 million wrongful termination lawsuit against the City of Charlottesville—announced that she was retiring from policing, and was appointed as a visiting professor at George Mason University. The two other MPD chief finalists are Brian O’Hara, deputy mayor of Newark, New Jersey, and Elvin Barren, Southfield, Michigan’s police chief. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is expected to nominate his top candidate—who will replace recently retired chief Medaria Arradondo—in the coming weeks, according to Patch.com.
UVA hate crime
The University of Virginia Police Department has released photos of a person connected to a hate crime at the school, and asked the public to help identify them. On September 7, someone appearing to be a white male wearing a dark-colored jacket, jeans, and shoes placed a noose—a weapon used to lynch Black people for centuries—around the neck of the Homer statue on central Grounds. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact UPD at 924-7166.
Boost up
Free bivalent COVID-19 booster shots—designed to fight against both the original form of the virus and the Omicron variant—are now available at local pharmacies and clinics. While Pfizer’s shot is available to everyone 12 and up, Moderna’s is only available to adults over 18. To schedule an appointment, visit vaccines.gov.