TOLEDO, Ohio — We're another step closer to a new jail in Lucas County and there's money from the federal government coming to help pay for it.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, announced that $2 million will go to the new jail from the Department of Justice.
In the next two years, Lucas County Sheriff Mike Navarre hopes to break ground on a new jail for Lucas County, but it will be a few years before it's up and running.
Although we're finding out that the federal money will be used for planning and designing the new jail; a jail that's up-to-date and functions how modern jails do, but also fills a void that he says is currently missing: mental health treatment.
"We feel it's necessary to provide a safe environment for the inmates that are in that facility and for our correction officers," Navarre said.
The $2 million in federal funding from Kaptur ensures there's a mental health wing in the new jail.
But the county is only in the beginning stages of the project or what the Lucas County Commissioners call the architecture and engineering phase.
"Designing that is so critical in making sure that we are providing state-of-the-art services for the folks that are picked up and held in the jail pending their cases," commissioner Gary Byers said.
The sheriff says having these services and treatment inside the jail is necessary to make sure the inmates who do have mental illnesses are taken care of.
"If they feel safe, they're going to be more cooperative," Navarre said. "They're going to take their medication, they're going to eat their meals, they're going to go to the counseling sessions."
But more importantly, he says they are going to get better and maybe return to society as law-abiding citizens.
As for the location of the new jail, it's looking like it'll be built on the property where the health department is right now.
"We need to find someplace that's functional for the health department to move to before we can demolish that building, but I'd put it at almost 99% probability that that's where it's going to be," Byers said.
The sheriff and commissioners have said their goal with building this jail is to make sure it doesn't cost the taxpayers.
The federal funding helps ensure that promise. They hope to secure more funding in the future.