Ingham County is opening a new justice complex in Mason. The building aims to streamline criminal justice operations and will house county jail inmates as well as the sheriff’s office and 55th district court.
Voters approved a millage in 2018 to fund the nearly $80 million construction project. The new complex broke ground in 2021 in the front parking lot of the county’s old jail.
Ingham County Sheriff Scott Wriggelsworth said the old facility, built in the 1960s, was only built "to keep people inside" and wasn't prepared to handle additional functions beyond housing inmates. He added the old building has several structural issues, including aging plumbing and outdated technology.
“With all the technology that helps serve the criminal justice system now, it's super complicated to run wire in an old facility like that," Wriggelsworth said. "It's just old. It's outdated, and it's lived its life, and it needed to be replaced.”
Wriggelsworth said the new building addresses these issues and will improve the experience for inmates and staff working on-site. The complex aims to make the process more efficient.
“Everything in the system is going to work better, because of this new facility, as opposed to a lot of the stuff really wasn't even thought of back in the early 60s in the early 80s when the old places was built," he said.
The sheriff said law enforcement moved into the new building last week. He expects the transition from the old jail to the new facility to happen sometime later this month, declining to offer specifics for security reasons.