Dylan Brogan
Leah Wisdorf, at the Baskerville condo building. Residents fear adding four stories to the jail across the street will leave their building in the shadows.
Kerryann DiLoreto loves living in her downtown condo, but admits the view isn’t the greatest.
“When I look out my window, I see the jail,” says DiLoreto, who lives in the historic Baskerville building at the corner of West Doty and South Hamilton streets. “Many of us can actually see the bars against the windows. Sometimes you can see folks over there peering out. The jail is very ever-present for us.”
DiLoreto and other members of the Baskerville Condo Association are worried the jail will soon loom even larger. After years of debate and numerous studies, Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney has budgeted for a proposal to add four additional floors to the Public Safety Building, which houses one of Dane County’s three jails. The $75.2 million plan — the first phase of the project — would consolidate the county’s jail operations under one roof, provide medical and mental health beds for the first time and nearly double programming space. Mahoney says the proposal would also shutter the 60-year-old, maximum-security jail on the top two floors of the City County Building and “virtually end” solitary confinement.
But if the proposal is included in Dane County’s 2018 budget, Baskerville residents say the jail expansion will leave them in the shadows — literally. With the Public Safety Building doubling in height under the proposal, they worry the sun will never shine on one side of the Baskerville again. Leah Wisdorf, president of the Baskerville Condo Association, says the group hopes to persuade policymakers to abandon the current plan and pursue an option that gives the jail a smaller footprint downtown.
“A new jail facility off the isthmus needs to at least be seriously considered. We think it was very shortsighted to take it off the table,” Wisdorf says. “We need to take a step back before the county doubles down on what we believe will be a costly mistake.”
The group is trying to rally neighbors to the cause. They have already presented their case against the jail expansion to the Bassett Neighborhood Committee. They hope to find more support when Mahoney presents the jail proposal to Capitol Neighborhoods Inc. at a listening session on Oct. 17.
Peter Forbes, another Baskerville resident whose condo faces the Public Safety Building, denies that opposition to the proposal is a “not in my backyard thing.”
“This area is in the central spoke of the downtown hub. It’s being underutilized. There is so much potential here,” Forbes says. “It just seems like everybody loses the way things are currently headed: The people that visit downtown, the people that live downtown and the inmates.”
But opposition from residents at the Baskerville may be too little, too late. As the condo group is quick to point out, only a few years ago Mahoney backed a plan to build a brand new jail facility within 10 miles of downtown. But support for that plan evaporated after the cost was estimated at $120-160 million.
“It was determined that the upfront costs of building a jail at a greenfield site were too high and that there would be significant ongoing costs having to transport inmates to and from the courthouse,” Mahoney says. “So that idea was struck down by both the county executive and the county board and we went back to the drawing board.”
In 2016, consultant group Mead & Hunt released a 700-page study that outlined two options for consolidating the county’s three jail facilities at the Public Safety Building. After County Executive Joe Parisi balked at the price tag, the consultants were tasked with spreading the costs out over several budgets by breaking down one of the options into three phases. The current jail proposal in Mahoney’s budget is the first phase of that proposal. In the meantime, $4 million was allocated for temporary “life-saving improvements” to the City County Building jail which Mahoney has long called “dangerous.”
“[The county] has done seven studies at a cost of almost $2 million,” Mahoney says. “It’s time to stop talking about it and do something about it.”
Supv. Mary Kolar — who represents the district — agrees. She is sympathetic to the complaints of her Baskerville constituents but is backing the proposal outlined in Mahoney’s budget.
“It’s just luck that we haven’t had a tragedy at the City County Building jail,” says Kolar, who notes that in August eight inmates were trapped in their cells for several hours because of malfunctioning locks, a common occurrence at the City County Building jail. “I encourage anyone with concerns to attend the listening sessions in October.”
Supv. Carousel Bayrd, who sits on the county’s Public Protection and Judiciary Committee, says there is good reason that building a new jail away from downtown was nixed. She cites access to public transportation and proximity to the courthouse as reasons why the jail needs to be downtown.
“Also, a majority of inmates live in the city of Madison and are brought in by Madison Police Department,” Bayrd says. “We don’t make decisions based on NIMBY [not in my backyard]. I certainly don’t and I expect my colleagues not to either.”
Residents at Baskerville remain unconvinced. Mark Landis, who also lives in the historic building that was once briefly home to Orson Welles, says adding floors to the Public Safety Building might not be the best option for inmates, either.
“All the research and literature place a lot of value in inmates’ access to outdoor recreation,” Landis says. “How much space can really be devoted to outdoor recreation when the jail is downtown?”
Forbes says the county has “punted” on moving forward with a plan to address issues at the Dane County Jail. But he cautions against making a “hasty decision.”
“We are sympathetic that the situation at the City County Building jail is unsustainable and needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Steps have already been taken to address some of the immediate problems,” says Forbes. “It just seems like the county did nothing and nothing for years and is now rushing into a plan and forcing us to just go along with it. This is a massive project. It’s going to be expensive no matter what and we can’t really find anyone who is enthusiastic about the current expansion plan.”
In June, Parisi wouldn’t say whether the jail proposal backed by the sheriff and the County Board would be included in his budget proposal. His communication director, Stephanie Miller, writes in an email that the office is “still evaluating the options. County Executive Parisi’s budget is due to the county board on Oct. 1.”
If the proposal makes it into the 2018 county budget, the Baskerville Condo Association plans on taking the fight to the city.
Downtown Ald. Mike Verveer says like any proposed development, the city will need to give its approval before construction can begin.
“We try to have as robust a neighborhood dialogue as possible when considering developmental proposals. I can’t see why a county project would be any different,” says Verveer, who adds that the county will need to make a formal proposal before the city can evaluate it. “I’m aware of the Baskerville residents’ concerns but will keep an open mind until the community gets a chance to weigh in.”
Mahoney says the Public Safety Building was originally designed to have four additional floors, as the current jail proposal calls for. He doesn’t expect the city to delay debate on the jail any longer but admits “it’s possible.”
“This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. We have been talking about what needs to be done with the jail for years and years now,” Mahoney says. “Remember, we need to do this to replace an outdated, 60-year-old jail that’s a danger to the community. I know I sound like a broken record but it’s only a matter of time before a real tragedy occurs.”
