This story has been updated.
The Monroe County Justice Center closed again Wednesday for more mold removal.
In a press release, the Monroe County Sheriff’s office said prisoners were being kept in courtroom areas of the justice center during the cleanup. A full transfer to another jail would be complicated, it said, and cause lengthy and unnecessary disruptions.
County Commissioner Julie Thomas said the building has had roof and sewage leaks before, but on August 6, workers noticed condensation in the HVAC system.
“Because of the humidity, this condensation, it was almost like raining above the ceiling tiles,” she said.
Criminal hearings were rescheduled to Thursday.
In internal emails, county staff described experiencing headaches, sore throats and burning eyes while in the office. They shared images of water damage on ceiling tiles and trash cans being used to collect dripping water.
The county hired VET Environmental Engineering to clean part of the jail and justice center.
Sara Hamidovic, President and CEO at VET Environmental Engineering, said, “a lot of the molds that we found are molds that create allergies in humans. So, yes, just your common sniffles, sneezes, headaches, itchy eyes, things of that are very normal with those types of molds.”
Read more: Some offices in Monroe County Justice Building closed again because of mold
An environmental survey found mold spores at mainly “acceptable” levels throughout the facility, while a few areas had “elevated” levels, including one judge’s office.
The work suspended operations at the offices of the circuit court, prosecutor, public defender, county clerk and probation. Court hearings were rescheduled.
“We've treated the jail side exactly as we've treated the office side, with great care and compassion for the people who are in those environments,” Thomas said. “At the same time doing everything we can to try to mitigate as much of this as we can.”
This summer’s mold scare resulted from a combination of factors: some structural, and some environmental.
“The design of the building may not have been ideal. The HVAC system in that building is very large, very complex, and we kind of had unprecedented heat, humidity, and precipitation this year,” Hamidovic said.
The Commissioners and Sheriff’s Office used the incident to stress the importance of building a new jail and justice facility, which has been an ongoing struggle for the county.
The county shared renderings this week by an Indianapolis firm of what the 400-bed facility north of Bloomington might look like. Thomas hopes Monroe County can break ground by next summer, assuming it can navigate legislative hurdles that limit Indiana counties’ ability to raise money.
Read more: Monroe County Council reviews plans for new jail
“Some of the obstacles we're facing relate specifically to Senate Enrolled Act 1 and the limitations it has put on county governments to create bonds and funding mechanisms,” she said.
Thomas says the county expects to have a full report on the last stages of VET’s fogging and testing a week from Friday.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit against Monroe County 17 years ago, alleging that conditions at the current jail are unconstitutional. The ACLU and county entered into an agreement that a new jail would be built. That agreement is still in effect.
