Barrett, Black Caucus agreement secures remaining county jail project funding 

Sheriff Kalvin Barrett and the Dane County Board’s Black Caucus have reached an agreement regarding the Dane County Jail Consolidation Project, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. 

The bargain includes funding of the project’s remaining $13.5 million cost, which will come from unused borrowing from other capital projects in the county. It is also promises Barrett’s removal of federal inmates from the jail, among additional reforms, such as reduction or elimination of solitary confinement, establishment of a mental health court, and expansion of programs addressing youth incarceration and housing services for the previously incarcerated. 

The completed project will close the jail at the City-County Building and the south side work-release Ferris Center facility, consolidating the jail’s facilities in a six-story tower and the Public Safety Building. The March estimate for the 825-bed facility’s final cost was $179 million; if funding is now approved, the county will have signed off on $179.5 million for the jail.  

The Dane County Board is set to vote on the new jail funding and ending the federal inmate contract with the U.S. Marshal’s Service tonight.