This old juvenile hall was once called the Hall of Shame. Fresno Unified may now buy it

The old juvenile hall on Ventura Street is an eyesore in its southeast Fresno neighborhood. Inside, it’s even worse.

The ceiling is crumbling, and the old cell block doors are etched with explicit graffiti. Rubber bullets cover the floors in some rooms – souvenirs from the facility’s brief stint as a law enforcement training ground. Once dubbed the Hall of Shame by a Bee investigation, it’s now been empty for over a decade.

But if the Fresno Unified Board of Trustees votes to approve the purchase of the building from the county for around $1.2 million, the district has grand plans for the jailhouse’s future.

“It’s all coming down,” Superintendent Bob Nelson said.

In its place, the district hopes to build an alternative education facility that will focus on project-based and practical learning, Nelson said, putting students to work on real-world problems the community is facing, like homelessness and hunger.

“It would be very different than doing a credit recovery program, where you’ve been cut out of the learning process,” Nelson said. “It’s key that students who have not had success find success. We’ll do whatever combination of online and in-seat learning makes that happen.”

Nelson joined board president Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas and trustee Valerie Davis for a tour through the cavernous jailhouse on Tuesday afternoon, stepping through dormitories where the ceiling tiles have fallen to the floor. Some of the only intact furnishings are the metal bunk beds in the solitary confinement rooms.

The jail itself would most certainly need to be demolished, according to Nelson. Not only is it too dilapidated, but its history is too sad.

“Burn it, raze it,” Nelson said. “Then have someone come by and bless the grounds.”

Still, Nelson said he hopes that the district could make use of the campus’ other buildings, including an office space that could replace the district’s professional development building, and an IT hub that’s in serviceable shape.

Rosas took a more practical view as she walked through the pink-walled space that used to be the girls dormitory. Although much of the interior is trashed, smaller items, like coat hooks, could be sold or repurposed, she said.

Part of the appeal of the campus is its enormous size: it spans a whole city block, and Fresno Unified struggles to find the land it needs to build new campuses, Nelson said.

“It’s hard to find another parcel of land in Fresno where I could put a school and not need eminent domain to kick people out of the way,” Nelson said. “I don’t want to do that.”’

The board will vote on the purchase at its Wednesday board meeting, and if approved, Nelson said he hopes that demolition starts right away. However, much of the timeline will depend on the new board following the Nov. 6 election where four seats are up for re-election.

“It’s going to be a really powerful metaphor for substantive life-changing,” Nelson said. “Like a phoenix reemerging from the ashes.”

This story was originally published October 17, 2018 at 10:19 AM with the headline "This old juvenile hall was once called the Hall of Shame. Fresno Unified may now buy it."