Shelley pushes to move Syracuse jail operations to Jamesville

Sheriff Toby Shelley put his support behind a major shift in Onondaga County’s jail system, saying he would, in a “perfect world,” move the sheriff’s whole operation southeast of Syracuse. The proposal would pull more inmates and staff out of the Syracuse Justice Center on South State Street and deepen the county’s move toward a centralized Public Safety Campus in Jamesville.

Shelley told county lawmakers at a June 16 Public Safety Committee meeting that the Syracuse jail is “deteriorating” and driving staffing and cost problems. The county is already using Jamesville for part of the workload: Diane Dober, the chief correction deputy, said corrections staff are sending pre-trial inmates there now.

The Jamesville push marks a sharp turn from the county’s earlier plan. In his March 27 State of the County address, County Executive Ryan McMahon said the county would explore consolidating all sheriff’s operations at a new public safety campus in Jamesville, reversing the 2022 approach that would have moved Jamesville inmates and staff into the downtown jail. McMahon’s latest proposal would also free up valuable downtown county land in Syracuse, with the Convention District site available for other uses.

The facilities themselves tell the story of why the debate has lasted so long. The Syracuse Justice Center opened on April 3, 1995, is a nine-floor building, and can hold up to 605 inmates. Jamesville Correctional Facility is a direct-supervision facility with a capacity of 538 inmates and about 167 employees. Moving more operations south would shift day-to-day logistics, from inmate transport to staffing assignments and access to courts and family visits, to a different part of the county.

The latest proposal also comes after years of legal and political conflict over which jail should close. The Onondaga County Legislature voted in February 2023 to move toward closing Jamesville. Shelley sued to block that plan, but a state Supreme Court judge dismissed the case and the appeals court upheld that ruling in April 2025.

What makes the new plan notable is not just the location change, but the alignment. McMahon’s Jamesville strategy now has Shelley’s support, giving the county executive and sheriff a united front as they revisit a decision that had divided county government for years. If the county moves ahead, the debate will turn from whether Jamesville survives to how quickly Onondaga County wants to build around it.