![Armond Budish announcing jail deal at Cleveland City Hall on June 6. [Matt Richmond / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b89b343/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x1592+0+0/resize/840x446!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2017%2F6%2F06%2Fjail_presser_web.jpg)
The long negotiations to turn Cleveland jail operations over to Cuyahoga County and move city police out of their current headquarters at the Justice Center appear to be nearing a conclusion.
Mayor Frank Jackson said Tuesday at a press conference outside City Hall that the only issue left for the city is finding a new police headquarters.
“I remember when I came into council in 1990 and there was discussion around this very issue –the issue of why don’t we consolidate jail activity and whether or not the police headquarters building was an appropriate place for the police headquarters," said Jackson.
At its meeting Monday, city council approved sale of its police headquarters to the county for $9.25 million. They’ll pay the county a per-diem rate for each inmate sent to the county-run jail. Cuyahoga County Council still has to approve the deal.
Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish, described the agreement as just one part of an ongoing county project to move services from the town and city level to the county level.
"Today I’m happy to announce our most significant regional effort yet – subject to county council’s approval, the county will be taking over responsibility for the Cleveland jail prisoners," said Budish.
The county’s goal is to eventually house all inmates in Cuyahoga County. They’ve already begun the consolidation of road and bridge work, 911-call-centers, city planning and the demolition of blighted buildings.
Cleveland will continue to lease space for its police in the Justice Center, if the county approves the sale before new headquarters are found.
