By Shaun Bishop, Median News Staff
Inside Bay Area
REDWOOD CITY — After having expressed some early reservations about using state money to help build a new jail, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday to seek up to $100 million for the job.
The money would come from Assembly Bill 900, a bill signed last May that provides $7.7 billion for jail construction throughout the state.
Supervisors unanimously directed Sheriff Greg Munks to apply for the state funds to help build a 648-bed jail at the Maple Street site of the women’s jail in Redwood City.
The jail would cost an estimated $140 million, of which the county would have to contribute about $40 million in matching funds. It would house both men and women in a medium-security environment that offers rehabilitation programs, Munks said.
Despite extreme overcrowding at the current county men’s and women’s jails, several supervisors had expresseda reluctance as recently as February to seek state money to build a new jail.
Part of the reason is because the state is asking counties that receive funding to find space for secure re-entry facilities -- buildings of up to 500 beds that provide services to help inmates transition back into society -- as well as new mental health treatment services.
Besides having to find land for those projects, the supervisors were concerned that while AB 900 would pay for the facilities’ construction, the county would have to shoulder staffing and operational costs if the state later cuts off funding for those programs.
To allay those concerns, Munks decided to ask only for jail money, even though that means the county will be given lower priority than counties that offer to build those re-entry and mental health facilities. Still, it’s worth a shot to apply by the Tuesday deadline, Munks said. The jail would tentatively open in 2011.
“The only thing we know for sure,” Munks told the board, “is if we do not submit an application, we do not get any money.”
Supervisor Rich Gordon, president of the California State Association of Counties, said he has heard that several Bay Area counties won’t pursue AB 900 funds, which could improve San Mateo County’s chances of getting the money.
Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson said she is glad the application is for a 648-bed jail instead of one with 776 beds, as a county consultant had recommended. That would help shift the focus to programming, she noted.
“I’m truly one that believes the more beds we build, the more beds we fill,” she said.
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