JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Protesters took to the steps of City Hall on Tuesday to make their message clear -- Northside neighbors will not welcome a new jail on their side of town.
The outcry comes after Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said last month the process of moving the Duval County Jail out of downtown may start this year.
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While no city neighborhood has yet been named as the new jail site, many are already voicing where they do not want the new jail to go.
Several protesters told Action News Jax’s Shanila Kabir they strongly believe city leaders are considering Jacksonville’s north and west sides to build the new jail. They said they refuse to let their children go to school anywhere near a detention facility.
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Protester and Northside resident Xavier Green believes this part of town is already underserved. He would like to see more schools and not a brand-new jail.
“It’s sort of like a self-fulfilling prophecy. You see a prison literally by your school or when you look out the window and that sort of confirms that the system doesn’t really believe in you, and that’s where they want you to go,” Green said.
Right now, the Duval County Jail downtown is considered to be outdated and it needs major renovations. Beyond the jail’s condition, city leaders, planners, and community members all agree it sits on valuable real estate where developers could easily rebuild apartment buildings and commercial space close to the St. Johns River.
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“There has been a long history of deteriorating buildings with mold and different things like that. But this the only reason why they care now because it’s prime property. It’s not because they actually care about the inmate population,” Green said.
The City of Jacksonville released a report stating the new Duval County Jail will need to meet the demand that comes with the type of growth Jacksonville sees every year. However, it did not specify a location or even the part of town where the new jail might end up.
Protesters said they acknowledge the jail location has not been announced, but they fear the jail will be constructed on the Northside, similar to the morgue being built in Brentwood that will begin operations this spring despite backlash from neighbors and families there.
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“They’re already showing their hand on how they want to do things like with Brentwood. We need to fight back and push back on things like the billion-dollar jail because they already have systems that can fix things that are already broken,” Echo Nova, a protestor, said.
Jacksonville City Councilman Jimmy Peluso said the city has not begun talking about locations for the new jail yet.
Action News Jax reached out to a few other council members who represent different neighborhoods on the Northside of Jacksonville. We are waiting to hear back if they will join these protesters in opposing the jail coming to any areas they represent.
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