The Hamilton County Justice Center is the main

county jail A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various cr ...

branch for

Hamilton County, Ohio Hamilton County is located in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 830,639, making it the List of counties in Ohio, third-most populous county in Ohio. The coun ...

. It is serviced by the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office. The facility is located at 1000 Sycamore Street in the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

of Cincinnati. The Hamilton County Justice Center was built in 1985 at an expense of $54 million. The complex consists of two brutalist-style twin towers, each of which rise ten floors. The jail twin towers are connected to each other by a windowless skywalk. Direct access to the jail from the Hamilton County Courthouse (across the street) is afforded by another skywalk passing over Sycamore Street. The jail holds an average 1424 prisoners daily, and an estimated 55,000 annually, giving it the dubious distinction of being one of the 25 largest jails in the U.S. Several artifacts taken from the Cincinnati Work House and Hospital, a former 19th-century jail, are on display at the Hamilton County Justice Center. On May 31, 2020, the Hamilton County Sheriff's Department in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, Ohio, had an American Flag removed from the justice center and replaced it with a "

thin blue line The "thin blue line" is a term that typically refers to the concept of the police as the line between law-and-order and chaos in society. The "blue" in "thin blue line" refers to the blue color of the uniforms of many police departments. The ...

" flag in response to the

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

to the

murder of George Floyd On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported that he made a purchase using a c ...

. It was later reported that the American flag was first stolen, despite images to the contrary. The blue line flag was taken down.

References

{{coord, 39.106891, -84.508784, display=title, format=dms Twin towers 1985 establishments in Ohio Government buildings completed in 1985 Brutalist architecture in Ohio County government buildings in Ohio Jails in Ohio