MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Two Shelby County commissioners have sent letters urging county leaders to order a formal assessment of the Criminal Justice Center at 201 Poplar, as the aging building that houses the county jail and courts continues to flood, overheat, and record in-custody deaths.
Commissioner Mick Wright wrote to Mayor Lee Harris on June 30, asking him to issue a Request for Qualifications for a detailed mechanical, engineering, electrical, and structural assessment of the building. Commissioner Charlie Caswell followed on July 10 with a letter to both Mayor Harris and Sheriff Floyd Bonner, writing that the conditions deserve immediate attention. Caswell said he was not assigning blame but believes the current conditions pose serious operational, safety, and financial risks if they are not addressed.
The letters followed an emergency news conference the Shelby County Sheriff's Office held on July 8, after the office said 14 detainees needed medical attention and five staff members were overcome when the jail's air conditioning failed. According to accounts from officials and reporting by Action News 5, the air conditioning had been out for about a month, temperatures inside reached above 90 degrees, and a diesel fuel spill from a backup generator flooded the kitchen. The building, which records show has recorded dozens of in-custody deaths in recent years, has been the subject of repeated warnings from the Sheriff. According to the criminal justice reform group Just City, the facility has recorded 68 in-custody deaths since 2018.
The county has spent $58 million on emergency repairs to the facility to date. Sheriff Bonner, in a letter to the mayor and the Board of Commissioners titled "Life-threatening Jail Maintenance Issues," wrote that the facility is crumbling while plans for a new jail are repeatedly postponed and critical repairs delayed. Bonner said diesel fuel had gushed from a generator into the kitchen and electrical room, and that of two chillers cooling part of the jail, one had been shut down and the other was inoperable.
The dispute has opened a public rift between the Sheriff and the mayor over how to fix the problem, and at what cost. Bonner and some county leaders have pushed for a new jail and courthouse to replace 201 Poplar, a project that could cost up to an estimated $1 billion. The county voted against a potential North Memphis site for a new facility last year. Responding to Wright's call for an assessment, Mayor Harris wrote that the county's schools are in worse shape, and so are its neighborhoods, a comment that framed the jail as one competing priority among many for limited county dollars.
Commissioner Caswell has also argued the problem is not only the building but the population inside it. He has said roughly 700 people held at 201 Poplar should not be locked up in a jail, and pointed to a mental health facility the commission toured in Nashville as a model. The county is working to build a new Mental Health Justice Center.
The debate arrives in the middle of a county mayor's race. John DeBerry, the Republican candidate for county mayor, toured 201 Poplar on July 13 and said the structure needs immediate attention, adding that contractors and building experts should assess the facility to determine the best path forward. Early voting in that race runs through August 1, with Election Day on August 6.
Why It Matters for Memphis
The county jail is a public building, paid for and maintained with county tax dollars, holding people the courts have not convicted of anything as they await trial. When the air conditioning fails for a month, when fuel floods a kitchen, and when the people held inside need medical care because of the heat, that is a direct government failure with human consequences. The $58 million already spent on emergency repairs is the receipt for years of deferred maintenance, and the looming question, whether to keep patching the building or spend up to $1 billion on a new one, is one of the largest financial decisions the county faces.
The Oversight Question
The 201 Poplar facility is owned and maintained by Shelby County Government, with maintenance responsibilities falling under the county mayor's administration. The Shelby County Sheriff's Office operates the jail but depends on the county administration for building repairs and capital improvements. This split oversight has been a recurring point of friction in the ongoing maintenance crisis.
