Mesa should hire a consultant to look into building a city jail in the future, Police Chief George Gascón told the City Council on Thursday.
Now, those arrested by Mesa police are detained in holding cells before they are released or booked into the Maricopa County’s Fourth Avenue jail in Phoenix.
Mesa incurs more than $135 for the first night someone is kept in the county jail.
Councilman Rex Griswold, who heard the chief’s presentation Thursday, quipped that three-star hotels offer competitive rates.
Gascón responded: “In the off-season, we could probably get them for quite a bit less.”
