Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon, one of the leading candidates for mayor of Detroit, has moved quickly to distance himself from a potential fiasco involving the construction of a new county jail.

The Detroit News reported Monday that the county has already spent more than $100 million on a partially constructed new county jail near Greektown, and anticipates going $65 to $100 million over budget.  So the county is now considering scrapping the $100 million worth of construction and revamping an empty state prison on Mound Road in Detroit so it can come within budget. 

A release issued Monday night by Napoleon's office states:

Sheriff Benny N. Napoleon, having previously expressed criticism for the significant construction delays and cost overruns plaguing Wayne County’s new jail, says word that Wayne County has been in talks with the state and other entities to abandon the new jail project downtown is troubling as he again was not kept informed of this development. 

“Taxpayers should not have to bear the burden of this  fiasco, they deserve to receive a dention center which serves the needs of today and well into the future," he said in a statement in the release.

The Wayne County Commission approved construction of the building in 2010. Napoleon's job as sheriff is to run the county jail and oversee road patrols and investigations.

Napoleon, in a phone interview Tuesday with the Deadline Detroit, said he had “been left out of the process right from the very beginning” when it came to planning and executing construction. He said the county had failed to budget essentials like technology for the jail, and he had concerns about the design.    

Napoleon said he favored building a new facility rather than buying the state prison and retrofitting it to serve as a jail. He said jails are for more restrictive environments and more temporary residents.  Prisons are for long-term occupancy.

“We felt it should be done right initially by building a new facility," he said.

But he said  the “entire process" of planning and constructing the jail has "been frustrating."  

"We’ve been shut out of the process," he repeated.

June West, a spokeswoman for Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, said it’s unclear if the county will scrap the current jail near Greektown, and is examining what's best at this point.  She said the decision will be based on a number of factors,  including whether the county can get a fair price for selling the land where the jail is being built. 

West contradicted Napoleon, saying he and his staff were at meetings “and had a voice in the process" from the beginning when the construction of the  jail was under consideration.

"They've been invited to the meetings all along," she said.