County silent on jail’s future

Wayne County officials aren’t saying a word about their plans for the future of the Dickerson Jail located on Conant and Hamtramck Dr

By Charles Sercombe
Wayne County will soon take the first step of moving inmates and staffmembers from all of its jails into its new Criminal Justice Center.
The county plans to make the move by this coming September.
That move will include the county’s juvenile jails, but apparently all this scheduled moving does not yet include the Dickerson Jail located in Hamtramck.
A spokesperson for Wayne County Executive Warren C. Evans said she would look into what the plan is for the Hamtramck jail. That person did not return follow-up when The Review went to press on Thursday.
City officials, however, expect the jail here will be closed down sooner or later and, when it does, it will represent a loss to the city of about $1 million a year the county pays to Hamtramck in lieu of property taxes.
When that financial ax eventually does drop, it will be devastating financially to the city.
City Manager Max Garbarino said he has been in talks with county officials about the future of the Hamtramck jail, but nothing concrete has been planned.
The Hamtramck jail is relatively new, having been built in 1991, although at that time it met resistance from some city officials who feared there could be a resultant spillover of crime into the city.
Those fears never came to fruition, but then the expected economic boon to local businesses never materialized either.
The Hamtramck jail has recently come under scrutiny over reports of the abuse of juvenile inmates there.
As for the upcoming consolidation into the new county jail complex, County Executive Evans released this statement:
“As we take possession of the new Wayne County Criminal Justice Center, we’re not just opening a facility, we’re ushering in a new era for our justice system.
“This center symbolizes our dedication to turning challenges into opportunities and our relentless pursuit of excellence for the benefit of every resident in Wayne County.”
Posted April 5, 2024