Muskegon County breaks ground on long-awaited jail expansion

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By Cynthia Price
Legal News

It has been more than 20 years in the making, but the county jail expansion got underway Jan. 14 with a ground-breaking ceremony postponed from last week.

The originally scheduled day, Jan. 7, was a weather nightmare, but the rescheduled day’s weather was bad enough that the ceremony was held under a tent.

Muskegon County Administrator Bonnie Hammersley introduced several speakers, most of whom talked about what a struggle it had been to come to this point and how glad they were that the jail would increase its capacity.

However, 14th Circuit Court Judge William Marietti was more thoughtful. Using the term “lamentable,” he said that he hopes the results of another recent groundbreaking, for the Juvenile Transition Center, will mean fewer people being jailed.

Judge Marietti acknowleged that “the first priority of government is to provide protection of its citizenry,” and noted that there was nothing to apologize in providing safety. But he said that he is most encouraged by the intentions of those who will run the new jail to “engage prisoners in activities that will prevent their return.”
 

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