Wayne County Jail

WAYEN COUNTY JAIL

Inmates of the Wayne County Jail will be less crowded together, but more cramped in their cells, f a new 400-inmate downtown jail facility is built as planned (SUN, Maren 11).

Despite a 1974 Michigan Supreme Court ruling, Wayne county contractors Giffel, Sims and Shorter plan to construct a facility calling for 52-spare-foot cells. The '74 ruling states that Department of Correction facilities must meet all local building codes, meaning a minimum of 70square-foot cells in Detroit.

John Barr, chairperson of the Wayne County Board of Commissioners, has argued that "the city building code was not intended to apply to jails in the first place," and hopes to get variances from State and Detroit building codes. That issue may eventually find ts way to Detroit Common Council and public hearings.

Meanwhile, attomeys for inmate plaintiffs have filed suit to stop construction of the Giffel, Sims and Shorter facility, and are urging that the Stevens-Gruzen proposal, calling for renovation of a downtown Hudson's warehouse, be adopted.

The Stevens-Gruzon plan would provide 75-square-foot cells, be air-conditioned, provide more space for visitation and recreation, and could be built in half the time, the attorneys say.

Attorney for the inmates, Neal Bush, calls the County Commissioners' plan "unbelievable" and "pretty outrageous." Acknowledging the difference in cost of the two facilities ($20.6 million for the county-backed proposal, $30 million for the warehouse facility), Bush said the county should not justify its actions by cost.

"Our only concern," Bush has written, "is that if a new facility is constructed, it be suitable for pre-trial detainees, for people who have not been convicted of any crime, but are in jail for only one reason: because they are too poor to make bond."