“I am a licensed social worker and a therapist. I have sat with people terrified of being taken away from their homes and their families by the carceral system. I have supported people harmed by incarcerating systems that promised safety while delivering abuse and terror. My loved ones have been imprisoned. These experiences have made it clear to me that jailing is about so much more than a building.”

“Johnson County prides itself on care, compassion, and justice for all. The proposed new jail and the bond proposal to fund it do not reflect that care. It’s true that the current jail needs renovations, but this proposal does not meaningfully improve quality of life for incarcerated individuals, who would have less space than legally required for -- and given to -- some animals. And ultimately, incarceration is not a humanitarian way of dealing with all crime. We should invest in the social drivers that prevent incarceration, rather than in downstream fixes that merely compensate for our failure to uphold human dignity.”

“I want a world where our answers to harm are specific, not generalized; restorative, not punitive; and where healing happens in community, not isolation.”

“Nathanial Davis Jr. died merely months ago in our county jail. He exhibited severe signs of alcohol withdrawal, for days, but given our current facility's medical inadequacies, he was left untreated. He wasn't a violent criminal. He was sick. He was sick and he died because he couldn't get the medical care he needed.”

“We do need to do something about the jail, but we don’t need to do this. The county needs to demonstrate commitment to keeping people out of jail. The county needs a strategic plan around diversion.

“There isn’t one. “

“We must see this ballot question as a choice that reflects our priorities. If we borrow this huge sum of money for a new jail, what are we forgoing?”

“Jails are the last stop when all the other systems fail. And it’s the most expensive, least cost-effective option we have. We should be investing in prevention instead of a jail, which disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities, even in Johnson County.”

“The same stale argument that has been used before is being used again; supporters argue that the current jail, built in 1981, is outdated and expensive to maintain. They say a new jail would reduce the need to house people in other counties. Those arguments fail considering the facts. Johnson County’s own published jail statistics show that the average daily jail population has fallen dramatically from its peak. The county reported an average daily population of 161 in 2010, but only 83 in 2023, 86 in 2024, and 88 in 2025. In other words, the long-term trend is not a growing jail population. It is a smaller jail population than Johnson County had 15 years ago.”

“I’m voting no because jails are the most expensive way to make communities unhealthy.”