JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — There’s a new push to ensure any new Duval County Jail doesn’t end up in Jacksonville’s historic Black neighborhoods.
The planned council resolution comes in response to concerns raised by community members after they felt their efforts to prevent the construction of a medical examiner’s office in Brentwood fell on deaf ears.
“The concerns that we’re hearing from members of the public who are saying we’ve got a lot of old neighborhoods in this city and no one would have expected a medical examiner’s building to be built in one of those old neighborhoods, well now we’re just making it known, like do not build a jail in one of these old redlined neighborhoods,” said Councilmember Jimmy Peluso (D-District 7).
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Peluso is working on the resolution, which he hopes will give community members living in historically marginalized areas of the city some assurances that they don’t need to worry.
His yet-to-be-filed proposal would put the council on the record, committing the areas and neighborhoods highlighted in red and yellow on this 1934 redlining map of the city would not be considered as the new jail’s future home.
“And we took that map because it was an easy one to pull out that we know probably correlates with race and disenfranchised communities,” said Peluso.
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Councilmember Ron Salem (R-Group 2 At-Large), who has been deeply involved in discussions surrounding the new jail, said he wants to know more about the proposal before committing to support it.
“I just think it’s a bit premature,” said Salem.
But he said he doubts any residential neighborhood would be a viable option for the jail in the first place, given he estimates it will likely have a footprint of between 100 and 200 acres.
“To try to get that type of site is gonna require it to be probably not in the core area of Jacksonville,” said Salem.
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Still, Peluso argued, given the frustration communities like Brentwood have already faced, making the commitment early would tamp down fears moving forward.
“By passing this, we kind of avoid that conversation because now we’re actively saying, nope, don’t worry, it’s not even going to be considered,” said Peluso.
Peluso is holding a meeting on Friday with community groups and leaders to start conversations and get feedback about his proposal.
He said he expects to formally file his resolution after the new year.
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