Wayne County is working on a deal with the state to bail itself out of its wildly over-budget new jail project and instead take over and renovate a state prison in Detroit.
The jail construction on the northeast side of downtown is already well under way, with parts of five floors built and five new cells being completed every day. The county has spent well over $100 million to this point.
But cost overruns threaten to add $65 million to $100 million to the approved price tag of $200 million, and Wayne County doesn't have that money. The county has asked its architects for a new design that would reduce capacity to 2,000 beds from 2,192 to shave costs.