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Metro Council Approves $35 Million to Start Design of $417 Million Davidson County Jail Complex
The Metro Council voted Thursday to spend $35 million on design and preliminary site work for a proposed $417 million jail complex that would replace the 32-year-old men's correctional center off Harding Place. Supporters cite deplorable conditions and overcrowding, while a coalition of two dozen advocacy groups argues the money should go toward diversion, housing and mental health services instead.
NASHVILLE â The Metro Council voted Thursday to approve $35 million to begin design work and preliminary site preparation for a proposed new Davidson County jail complex, the first step toward a project city officials estimate will cost $417 million.
The money, drawn from the city's capital spending plan, does not commit Metro to funding the full complex. Council members will have to approve additional funding separately at a later date.
The new facility would replace the 32-year-old men's correctional center off Harding Place and consolidate other county jail facilities into a single building.
The vote comes as Davidson County's jail system faces mounting scrutiny over crowding and deteriorating conditions. Acting Davidson County Sheriff Ruby Joyner told council members in October that the existing facility is "just a facility that's in deplorable condition."
Joyner described dorm-style living areas holding 60 to 70 men at a time and cited environmental and officer-safety concerns.
The proposal drew strong opposition during public comment and from a coalition of two dozen groups that sent a letter to Metro leaders urging them to reject the new jail.
"Nashville needs to reckon with the fact that we do not have a jail overcrowding problem. We have an over-policing and over-incarceration problem," one opponent said during the council meeting.
The coalition pointed to data indicating Nashville holds twice as many homeless people in jail as the national average, and to a study by the Wren Collective finding that case processing times and bond amounts have increased â trends advocates say leave people in custody longer.
"We feel like the jail is a Band-Aid solution and an extremely expensive Band-Aid solution," said Andrew Krinks of the Nashville People's Budget Coalition. "We'd like to see us use those funds for things that would actually prevent our dependence upon jails as a solution to social problems."
Krinks said advocates want funding steered toward services that keep people out of the criminal legal system altogether.
"Because if you're meeting people's needs and having diversion and having all the different things you can do on the front end, then we're not having to depend upon the facility itself in the way that we are now," he said.
Opponents also urged Metro to prioritize Mayor Freddie O'Connell's push for more affordable housing, jail diversion programs and additional mental health resources, and called for faster mental health assessments for people already in custody.
The approval sets in motion the early stages of a project that will shape the county's incarceration infrastructure for decades, with the full price tag and final design still subject to future council votes.