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Commissioner eyes vacant school as new Delaware County jail

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) – A central Indiana county is being asked to consider building a new jail in a vacant school building.

Delaware County Commissioner James King has proposed converting the former Wilson Middle School in Muncie into a jail that could house about 500 inmates and eliminate the need for the county to pay to house local inmates elsewhere.

King estimates the plan could cost $10 million. But The Star Press reports it would require extensive buy-in in a community that’s leery of any jail plan after a rocky history with the current facility.

Jail operations have been a point of contention since inmates filed a lawsuit in the late 1970s. A new facility opened in 1992 but was deemed too small and poorly designed from the day it opened.