MADISON, Wis. — Hours before the Dane County Board was set to vote on whether to put a referendum about covering rising costs for the Jail Consolidation Project on the April ballot, members of the board’s Black Caucus said they were “appalled” by comments Sheriff Kalvin Barrett made during a Tuesday news conference.
“Sheriff Barrett stood on stage with three white men and, in the finest tradition of Willy Lynch, attacked the integrity, the competence and the fundamental intellect of his colleagues on the Dane County Board,” Sup. Anthony Gray said during a Thursday morning news conference.
Thursday’s news conference came just two days after Barrett held his own event joined by three former Dane County sheriffs calling on the board to put the question of funding the project up to a referendum on the April ballot.
The project has faced setbacks for years, the latest when inflation left it $24 million over budget. Barrett said he has asked the board repeatedly to approve the extra funding, but they’ve continued to stall.
“Don’t be fooled. This is all intentional,” Barrett said in his Tuesday press conference. “They delay, they delay, they delay. They ask for a new study and by the time that study is done, they say, ‘Well that information is old.’”
Barrett also restated his past characterizations of the current jail calling it “borderline unconstitutional” and giving dire warnings about the health and safety of those housed there.
“A lawsuit is going to happen,”the sheriff warned. “If someone dies in our facility, we are going to be sued. And the star witnesses for that deposition when that time comes is going to be every single county board member, every single elected official starting off their statements with ‘I know the building is terrible, but….’”
The Black Caucus blames the delay on Dane County Executive Joe Parisi. He vetoed a plan the board agreed to in November for a five-story building instead of the currently planned six-story jail.
“Without warning or past precedent, the county executive vetoed that plan without providing additional funding to cover his actions,” Sup. Dana Pellebon said. “This action alone stopped the continued development and construction of the Jail Consolidation Project.”
In a statement to News 3 Now, Parisi said, “It’s unfortunate a public policy conversation about something as important as how a community helps treat and rehabilitate those in our jail has devolved to finger pointing.”
“I respect there are two competing visions for what to do about the jail, but it is simply inaccurate to say language some Supervisors passed in the budget constituted a plan. There were no designs. No cost estimates. None of the homework that needs to be done when planning a building,” he added.
Members of the Black Caucus said they won’t support putting the funding to a referendum and want a smaller facility and criminal justice reform aimed at lowering the jail population.
“The biggest driver of our jail population are the racial disparities in our criminal justice system,” Sup. Heidi Wegleitner said. “If we ignore that and just go on and build the bigger jail, we are letting everyone down in this community.”
The board is set to vote Thursday night on whether to put the additional funding to a referendum.
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