Allen County Commission – Prison Update Oct. 25 – WOWO 1190 AM

FORT WAYNE, Indiana (NEWS RELEASE) – The Allen County Commissioner is releasing the following update regarding the process for locating new county detention centers.

• To date, the Commissioner has surveyed and vetted eight properties in Allen County.
• Of these, four properties are deemed unviable due to a number of factors ranging from poor soil conditions to lack of access to public services to sub-optimal land composition.
• Commissioner continues to investigate four remaining properties

As mentioned above, the Commissioner leads a focused and comprehensive process, built around a set of nine criteria (five related to location proximity and four related to other key factors). We carefully evaluate potential properties using a structured matrix.

Here are the criteria used by the Commissioner and its partners to evaluate candidate sites:

• Proximity to medical facilities: Is the location close to existing hospitals or mental health facilities?
• Proximity to county justice facilities
• Close to law enforcement and county city halls
• Potential impact on existing or future resident or commercial developments
• Existing utilities and other critical services
• Increased traffic and ability not to affect inmate transportation
• potential acquisition costs
• Parcel size and layout

For ongoing updates on this process and more information on each of these standards, please visit: allencounty.us/prison.