INDIANAPOLIS — The proposed Indianapolis Community Justice Campus is a step closer to reality.
By a 24-1 vote, the City-County Council approved leases with the Indianapolis-Marion County Building Authority to build on the grounds of the former Citizens Energy Coke plant near East Prospect Street and South Keystone Avenue in the Twin Aire Neighborhood.
Completion is set for 2021 and the cost is estimated at $575 million, which will be financed by bonds issued by the Indianapolis Building Authority.
Mayor Joe Hogsett called the council’s approval “a crucial final step in our work to holistically reform the local criminal justice system and construct a Community Justice Campus.”
Much of what now takes place at the City-County Building and the Marion County Jail will move to the new complex on the city’s southeast side.
The county jail, courts, sheriff’s office and what’s being called an “intervention center” will be there.
Ground has already been broken.
At the time, Sheriff John Layton said the complex serves a larger purpose.
“I like the think we’re building more than a justice complex here today," Layton said. "We’re building more than a jail. We’re building bridges for so many people in so many ways."
The intervention center will provide offenders with programs and services aimed at keeping them out of jail in the future.
As for the City-County Building, city offices will continue to be housed there.
The Marion County Jail site, which is in a prime downtown location, will be redeveloped.
