(Photo by Casey Kuhn - KJZZ)

Part of the Madison Street Jail.

The Madison Street Jail in the heart of downtown Phoenix has sat empty for more than 10 years.

A cell door swings shut in a wing of the old jail, where trash litters the floor, and past inmates' graffiti marks the walls.

The last inmate left in 2005, and now Maricopa County wants to spend $65 million to turn the empty building into modern offices for county attorney employees.

Maricopa County officials, including Maricopa County Supervisor Clint Hickman, got a tour of the Madison Street Jail on Monday as plans are being made to repurpose the building into office space.

“It’s been floated as quite the spend," Hickman said. "But it’s certainly is going to be able to use a portion of our inventory for good things rather than sitting here rotting away.”

Hickman said while the cost will be high, it’s either that or tear the building down and start from scratch.

“Since I was appointed to the County Board of Supervisors we’ve been looking at this building," Hickman said. "And we gotta do something with it. Either that or we need to knock it down because we don’t want to sit there and watch this thing degrade over time.”

The county board plans to approve financing later this year and hopes to finish the project by 2019.

The new plans would include moving the staircases from inside to outside corners, making ceilings higher and adding more windows.

Inside The Jail And A Look At Renovation Plans