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Just say ‘yes’ Jail board member removed over renovation vote By Courteney Stuart
hearing figures like $50,000 to repaint floors. She wanted to hear more from the public courteney@c-ville.com about desired alternatives to incarceration he proposed reconfiguration of Buincluding restorative justice. ford Middle School was the subject “I knew the resolution would pass,” Van Clief says, describing her “no” vote as simply a sugof headlines and hand-wringing for much of the past year, until Charlottesville City gestion to slow the process down and not an Council arrived at a less expensive solution to objection to improving conditions at the jail. allow that project to proceed. Now, another She says Albemarle Board of Supervisors long-overdue renovation of a public facility— Chair Donna Price asked for her resignathe Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail—is tion in early April, citing Van Clief ’s opon the table, and questions about the cost and position to the resolution, and the superspeed of the planning process visors, all Democrats, voted have led to the ouster of a long- “We were unanimously for her removal at a closed session on April standing jail board member. moving too “I was doing my job in want20. A letter to Van Clief coning to remind the board that fast for 50firming her removal cites her “failure to act in the County’s we need to take the time to be some million best interest as determined mindful and deliberate,” says dollars which now former jail board memby the Board of Supervisors.” ber, attorney Cyndra Van Clief. would set the Both Price and Albemarle Van Clief says her removal future of our County Supervisor Diantha was prompted by her vote at jail for the next McKeel, chair of the ACRJ a March 10 meeting, when board, declined to comment on Van Clief ’s removal. she was the only jail board 50 years, two member to come out against generations.” McKeel, however, addressed a resolution to notify the state some of the questions Van CYNDRA VAN CLIEF, that the jail would request re- FORMER JAIL BOARD Clief raised. imbursement for 25 percent of MEMBER In an emailed statement, a $49 million project estimate. McKeel denies the process “I had talked to several board members has been rushed. The pace, she writes, and they, too, were very concerned about this is determined by the state’s Community Based Corrections Plan timeline and the ballooning cost,” says Van Clief, a Republican and self-described fiscal conservative who was General Assembly budget. The process concerned that the cost of the proposed renomust be initiated by a January deadline vation had soared and that taxpayers hadn’t or the jurisdiction has to wait until the had enough opportunity to give input on the following year. McKeel says that the $49 million “is only an project during pandemic Zoom meetings. “We were moving too fast for 50-some milestimated cost” that’s been discussed at four lion dollars which would set the future of our jail board meetings, each with opportunity jail for the next 50 years, two generations,” for public comment, as well as at presentasays Van Clief, who raised the alarm after tions to each of the jail’s three member ju-
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The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors voted to remove Cyndra Van Clief from the jail board on April 20.
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Jail tour reveals harsh conditions
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but want more public input on the plans before they’re finalized. “We want to make sure we’re using taxpayer’s dollars wisely,” says Brown. Van Clief shares her former fellow board members’ assessment that a jail renovation is badly needed. In fact, she says she’s the one who brought deplorable conditions in the women’s quarters to the board’s attention. “It was exposed metal, sharp, that you would get tetanus [from] or be cut,” she says, describing filthy conditions and a lack of natural light or fresh air. Her concerns, she insists, stemmed from her desire to inform the public about the project before so much money is committed. “We don’t want to put all of our resources right into just housing people,” she says. “We were about to make some decisions that would affect the future for the next 50 years, that could affect generations of people as to what the criminal justice system and our facilities and our whole entire approach as a community would be like.”
May 4 – 10, 2022 c-ville.com
risdictions (Charlottesville, Albemarle, and Nelson) during March and April. A final cost will be presented to the board and the public this summer or fall. The proposed plan does not expand beds at the jail but instead improves conditions and adds space for classrooms and mental health treatment. C-VILLE Weekly reached out to other ACRJ board members with questions about the renovation and Van Clief ’s removal over her vote. None would comment on Van Clief, but City Councilor Sena Magill says she believes the estimated cost is reasonable. “Having just passed $68 million for a school revamp, for one school, $50 million for a jail does not seem that far-fetched,” Magill says. “Not if we want a place that’s actually climate controlled.” Albemarle County Sheriff Chan Bryant agreed with Van Clief that the resolution to notify the state was moved on with “lightning speed” to avoid missing the state deadline. Both she and Charlottesville Sheriff James Brown voted in favor of the resolution
According to ACRJ Superintendent Martin Kumer, some conditions at the regional jail are “shameful.” lights, and plexiglass covers the bars on the cell doors, a response, Kumer explains, to correctional officers being grabbed as they patrolled the area. The temperature is controlled by a chiller unit, which forces moist cold air directly into the cells making the term “temperature control” a misnomer. [B] A high-walled brick courtyard covered by a fiberglass roof is the only outdoor area available to those housed at the ACRJ. “You could be here for a year and never feel sunlight on your skin,” says Kumer. The jail renovation would add an outdoor recreation area on a rooftop.
[C] A lack of ventilation is among the biggest concerns for Kumer and jail board members. There are no fresh-air intake ducts in much of the jail, which means the indoor air is recirculated. That makes preventing the spread of illness including COVID difficult or impossible. [D] The 1974 wing of the jail will be demolished as part of the renovation. Kumer says new construction will be “trauma informed,” adding sound baffling and using calming colors to improve conditions for inmates and staff. There will be expanded space for classrooms and mental health treatment.—Courteney Stuart
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The Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail was built in 1974, with an addition in the 1980s and an early 2000s renovation. The poor conditions don’t just impact people who are incarcerated there, says ACRJ Superintendent Martin Kumer; they are also a problem for staff and visitors. [A] “This is the most shameful part,” says Kumer on a recent tour of the jail. It’s the “administrative segregation” unit on the jail’s lower level, used primarily as a last resort punishment for violent infractions. Several small cells line one side of a hall not much wider than a human body. The space is illuminated by harsh fluorescent
