Macomb County officials on new project: 'It's more than just a jail'

The first demolition smashes crashed Friday into the wall of the Macomb County Jail annex, with more than a dozen wide swings each from County Executive Mark Hackel and Sheriff Anthony Wickersham.

Wielding sledgehammers emblazoned with the words "Macomb County" on the handles and sporting black Sheriff's Office hard hats and dark sunglasses, the pair made for an interesting photo op.

But the event marked a watershed moment after millions of dollars in fixes to the decades-old jail complex, numerous conversations and plan after plan over the course of 20 years to build a new lockup or renovate the current one into what will be a modern facility, designed to understand and serve — on the front end — those brought in with medical, mental health and substance abuse issues.

Hackel, a former sheriff himself, said county leaders, including the Board of Commissioners, looked at something that was "forward-focusing and drawing attention to mental health and substance use here in Macomb County like no other county ... in the country is doing" during the groundbreaking for the Macomb County Central Intake and Assessment Center at the jail complex in Mount Clemens.

"Today does begin the next journey that will improve operations here at the Sheriff's Office and the county jail. It'll make a better environment for my staff and for the inmates," Wickersham said. "We will focus on a direct supervision model. We will focus on a very high-bred medical and mental health facility dealing with the individuals that have those issues."

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Demolition on some of the oldest parts of the complex, including one dating to 1954, will start as work begins on the new $228 million center. The project is funded with federal, state and county dollars and without a tax increase to county residents or debt to the county.

County officials hope the project will address issues that correctional institutions across the U.S. face, particularly with those involving mental health and substance use. They hope it will help address the decades-long gap in mental health care that began when state facilities were decommissioned.

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Nearly 78,000 square feet of the jail complex, including D block, maximum security, rehabilitation area and the annex, will be razed in stages. Construction is to be complete by mid-2027. The tall tower, which opened in 1987 and has 900 beds, is the most visible section of the jail complex and will remain.

In May, the county catered to about 500 people during tours of the old sections, such as maximum security, which had individual cells where those housed were locked down 23 hours a day. The area hasn't been used in about four years, Wickersham previously said.

D block housed dormitory-type cells with no air conditioning units that reporters toured in 2019. Per a prior video on the Sheriff's Office Facebook page about the history of the jail, D block originally was 12 cells that could sleep as many as 12 people, sharing one bathroom and shower area.

The new center will be about 160,000 square feet, with space for a public lobby, secure passage, staff support, intake and release, court intake housing, medical and mental health, community corrections and general population housing, according to the county.

It's to have 278 beds, some standard and some similar to hospital beds, with medical, mental health and detox treatment wings.

There will be centralized intake and universal assessment for medical, mental health and pretrial services at booking. There also will be front-end diversion when appropriate through the assessment center, according to the county.

There will be 1,178 beds in total at the jail complex once the project is complete.

When Hackel announced the proposal last year, he said the county could be in a position to hand off someone committed to a state prison with an assessment and understanding of their substance abuse or mental health issues, thanks to the work done inside the new center.

A new or updated jail has been discussed off and on during the course of two decades by county officials, with millions spent on numerous fixes along the way to various sections and proposal after proposal reviewed by county leaders and the county board at various times. How to fund such a project was always the catch, especially when some plans suggested costs upward of $300 million or $400 million.

With the initial jail built in 1954 and four additions in the decades after, areas of the lockup were getting outdated. Things regularly were breaking and, at times, judges were called upon to release people early when there was overcrowding. People coming with mental health and substance abuse issues were on the rise.

"There's no way incarceration should be a substitute for treatment," Hackel said.

Plans were put on hold in April 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hackel and Wickersham decided not to ask voters in August 2020 to vote on a new countywide millage to fund a new lockup.

About $128 million in federal funding that came out of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as $40 million from the state and $60 million from the county is funding the new center, which officials said is "more than a jail."

As one small example, Wickersham said, officials anticipate being able to stitch cuts and wounds that normally would require a hospital visit and provide dialysis to those who need it.

Board Chairman Don Brown, who has served as a county commissioner for 34 years and has been a part of the conversations, prior proposals and budget consternations, said the project will "benefit in so many ways," from the person picked up who is dealing with drugs or mental health issues, to that person's family and to society at large.

"Hopefully, we'll be able to break the cycle of violence we see far too much in our streets," he said, adding that officials are hoping to get federal grants and other funding to support the program as the mental health costs are about $70,000 a cell.

"We're not stopping here. The executive and I have been to Washington and Lansing to continue to look for more resources because this is just the start," Brown said. "This is the base of something that can even be more fundamental and more transformative."

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on X: @challreporter.

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