County green lights North County jail

 

 

The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved the Sheriff department’s proposal to not only build a North County jail facility, but also to partner with the state to qualify for state funding for the project.

The supervisors voted unanimously on Feb. 19 to approve the proposal, which is seen as a cure to the vexing problem of jail overcrowding.

 

“It doesn’t seem to be any disagreement that we need a county jail, and this is one of the only opportunities we will have,” Sheriff Bill Brown said.

The board’s approval came just one week after the Sheriff’s department presented the Blue Ribbon Commission on Jail Overcrowding report to the board, detailing the problems and costs associated with the current county jail’s inability to accommodate a growing prisoner population.

Brown outlined the various possibilities that the county could explore in building a North County jail, including a 300-plus bed facility, without state participation. He estimated the facility, as a go-it-alone project, could cost the county up to $80 million.

Brown also proposed using the same parcel of land to site a Secure Community Reëntry Facility, which would house up to 500 inmates.

 

A reëntry facility is a requirement the county must agree to in order to be eligible for state funding. The second option would allow the county to apply for more than $57 million under Assembly Bill 900. A.B. 900 authorizes the expansion of 40,000 new state prison beds and allows counties to compete for $650 million of state funding.

Former Sheriff Jim Thomas called the project “absolutely critical” and urged the board to go forward with the grant application.

 

“June 1990 was the last time the county had the opportunity to use state funds to build a North County jail. … It’s [something that’s] critical for you to vote on, and critical for this county to have,” he said. Notwithstanding 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone’s previous criticism that the county is “broke,” and other supervisors’ skepticism about the prospects of the state footing up to 75 percent of the cost, everyone seemed to be in consensus about the necessity of building the jail.

“After pondering this, I really feel we don’t have a choice,” Firestone said. “We would have to undergo the pain of this. It’s in the interest of the county to pursue ... the proposal for a North County Jail.”

 

First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal, 5th District Supervisor Joseph Centeno and 4th District Supervisor Joni Gray expressed skepticism that the state could be counted on to deliver promised funding for the project.

Carbajal said he supported the project but was afraid the state would prove undependable. “They’ve sold us snake oil before and they will probably do it again,” he said. Gray added that the board “just can’t trust the state.”

But 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf urged board members to keep confidence in the state. She said it worried her that the other board members were being so critical of the state but still asking taxpayers to be supportive of a project of which the board itself was not completely confident.

 

“I’m a little concerned when I hear people bashing the state…We need to make [it clear] that we’re behind this 100 percent,” she said.

Brown predicts that the new jail facility would reduce recidivism by 70 percent and that nearly all of the 1,000 inmates released every year would utilize the reëntry facility and its services to become responsible community members again.

Though Brown outlined the positives of building a North County jail, he also noted that the county would have to develop ways to create a steady revenue flow to maintain the jail. He proposed increased sales and property tax initiatives as part of the solution to pay for the estimated $13 million that the county would have to pay annually to maintain the jail.

 

The application deadline to apply for state funding is March 18. By that time the county must have identified a project site, completed its proposal and mailed it to the state.

The county has identified the Laguna Sanitation District Wastewater Treatment Plant site, located at Betteravia and Black Roads in Santa Maria, as a possibility for the jail.

The county is also in the process of negotiating the purchase of a 50-acre site adjacent to the Laguna site.

Brown said that the he expects to receive from the state notice of the award sometime in May.

County CEO Mike Brown highlighted the county’s need to build a second jail facility and recommended the board consider all its options, including partnering with the state.

“We should probably eat what we need to eat to build the jail,” he said.