Kalamazoo County requests $2 million for jail design to replace aging facility

Kalamazoo County representatives and jail officials told the subcommittee that parts of the county jail date to 1974 and are functionally obsolete, with corroded plumbing embedded in walls, intermittent flooding events and constraints that limit programming and safe housing of inmates. Captain Steve Beers said the old section regularly requires patchwork fixes; the county already runs recidivism‑reduction programming that is hampered by the facility layout.

Officials asked the committee for $2 million to fund architectural and engineering design work so the county can scope and plan a replacement or large‑scale renovation. The county emphasized that the funding would be the design phase only; larger construction costs would follow a separate capital process. Committee members pressed for timing and next steps; county officials said administration is prepared to move quickly with architects once design funding is available.

No appropriation vote occurred at the hearing.