PORTSMOUTH — City leaders are submitting plans to the state to acquire the Hampton Roads Regional Jail for use as the new Portsmouth city jail and aim to make the transition no later than the start of 2025.
The Hampton Roads Regional Jail Authority, which comprises city managers and other representatives from the five participating jurisdictions, voted unanimously last week to allow Portsmouth to purchase the facility. The move means the facility could serve as the new city jail, allowing Portsmouth to convert the current aging waterfront jail facility into a tax-generating property — a goal the city has been working toward for years. It also could provide a safe place to accommodate juvenile detention services.
The regional jail, which closed April 1, has operated on Elmhurst Lane since the late 1990s. The publicly owned facility housed overflow inmates from Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Hampton and Newport News. The authority voted in October to close the facility after several cities began pulling back on the number of inmates they housed there.
The facility measures about 370,000 square feet in size and is situated on roughly 38 acres.
The authority’s vote last week initiated a sales agreement to be signed by the city of Portsmouth. All the respective city councils also have to approve of the sale, which could occur by May. This week, Portsmouth City Council approved a community-based corrections plan that lays out a needs assessment and planning study for the relocation and occupation of the regional jail facility. The resolution also asks that the Virginia Board of Local and Regional Jails accept the plans and reimburse the city for 25% of the costs to acquire the jail and relocate. Cost estimates have ranged from $30 to $45 million for purchase, relocation and renovations.
The hope is that approval would allow the city to formally transition into the facility by January. But Sheriff Michael Moore said he aims to move the process along even quicker, trying to secure the facility and relocate before the start of the holiday season in November. He said conversations are underway for a potential walk-through as early as next week to get the ball rolling.
Last year, the city hired Moseley Architects to study the regional jail and how it can fit the city’s needs, which included meetings with the sheriff’s office to determine the modifications needed to transition into the space. The firm found that some work includes modifying jail pods for different custody levels and expanding video arraignment spaces where staff and inmates can video chat with magistrates and local courts.
The needs assessment includes an analysis of criminal justice practices and inmate population projections. The regional jail can hold up to 1,300 inmates, which Moore said is more than enough for the city at this time.
The firm will submit the community-based corrections plan to the state on the city’s behalf — a process Virginia requires for any purchase or construction work worth more than $5 million, according to David Hackworth of Moseley Architects.
Hackworth said the state board could approve the plan by May. He anticipates legislative approval of the project could happen by April 2025 as it will have to be inserted into the governor’s budget and approved by the General Assembly. But since the request is for a reimbursement, Hackworth said work can be done in the meantime and it won’t interfere with relocation plans.
“(Ultimately) when it comes down to transitioning and what that schedule looks like, I think once this goes through, that’s really between what the sheriff really feels he can do and how he can transition in,” Hackworth said.
Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke previously said the costs to relocate could be in the $30 million range. The city’s financial advisers at Davenport & Company told City Council this month the city is in a strong financial position to borrow $45 million to purchase the facility and make some capital improvements, such as HVAC repairs and stormwater infrastructure improvements.
“The city can responsibly fund approximately $45 million with limited impacts on debt capacity,” said Kyle Laux of Davenport & Company.
City Council could vote in May to borrow the funds and lock down interest rates in June as well as amend the fiscal year 2024 budget to acquire the jail before the end of the current fiscal year, which spans to June 30.
“(On) the 29th of March, it was a jail,” said City Council member Mark Hugel at the April 9 meeting. “So I guess my concern is buildings don’t like to be empty. They start to fall apart pretty quickly. So it seems to me the sooner that we can move into the jail and start using the jail as our jail, like it was being used as the regional jail, the better off we’ll be in terms of not watching the building degrade while we go through this proposed schedule that looks like it’s pretty fluid to me.”
City leaders also are exploring the possibility of setting aside space to permanently house the city’s juvenile inmates. For months, sheriff deputies have been traveling dozens of hours across the state and as far as Bristol, Tennessee, to transport the city’s juvenile inmates after a decision last spring to house only Chesapeake’s juvenile inmates at Chesapeake Juvenile Services left Portsmouth’s youth with no dedicated location. Moore and City Council members are still awaiting more information about a temporary solution, which could include fixing up the city jail basement to house them overnight or wait for space in the regional jail facility.
Hackworth said a buildout for juvenile detention services would have to go through a similar process the city is currently undergoing, but with the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice and Board of Juvenile Justice.
Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com
