SINAI SAMARITAN WEST CAMPUS

The Journal Sentinel staff

The county should buy the west campus of Sinai Samaritan Medical Center to use as a correctional facility, County Supervisor T. Anthony Zielinski said Friday.

Aurora Health Care, which owns the hospital, is expected to consolidate Sinai Samaritan operations on its east campus, near N. 12th and W. State streets, within the next few years, he said.

That will make available the west campus, which is between N. 24th and N. 19th streets and W. State St. and W. Kilbourn Ave.

"I think we've expanded about as much as we can at the site in Franklin and I think we need to identify some other locations," he said.

The House of Correction is in Franklin. Both the house and County Jail are overcrowded, and a consultant has suggested that the county may have to add significantly to its corrections capacity over the next 10 years.

Supervisor LeAnn M. Launstein, whose district includes the House, said she would like the county to discuss with Aurora the possibility of the county buying the Sinai Samaritan site, but stopped short of saying the Leg 1 ends here county should buy it.

"You need a facility that meets the needs and the demands of the system," Launstein said. "We've decided that all of those options should be reviewed and analyzed. This is just one of those options."

It makes more sense to place House of Correction work-release inmates in a downtown location than in Franklin, where access to jobs is difficult, Launstein said. If a work-release site is developed at Sinai Samaritan, she said, the existing work-release facility, the Community Correctional Center at 1004 N. 10th St., could be used for jail overflow.

"I think you want to look at these pieces and put them together and look at the big picture," she said.

Zielinski and Launstein are co-sponsoring a resolution calling for the county to begin talks with Aurora.

"The west campus of Sinai Samaritan Hospital already has many of the facilities that are needed in a correctional facility, such as food service, single beds and dormitory space, administrative offices, clinics and parking," the resolution says.

Leg 2 ends here "I think this would be an opportunity to make sure the building is full, and it's not left vacant and boarded up," Zielinski said in an interview.

Converting the hospital to a correctional facility would also benefit the neighborhood because "it would provide a long- term use for an otherwise vacant building, more convenient employment for residents of the central city, and use by these employees of nearby neighborhood services such as restaurants, shopping, etc.," the resolution said.

Aurora spokeswoman Diane De La Santos confirmed that the hospital eventually would consolidate on the east campus and that Aurora had been approached by several parties interested in buying the west campus.

"One of the things we're looking at as we look at potential buyers is how the new use would fit in the neighborhood and affect the quality of life there, and how it would affect the tax base," she said.

She said she did not think Aurora officials were aware of Zielinski's proposal.

Copyright 1995
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.