By Ishani Desai
The Sacramento Bee
PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — The Placer County Sheriff’s Office held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for two $66 million buildings to house inmates.
Placer County’s top leaders and law enforcement officials unveiled in Roseville a vocational training facility and a mental health center at the Bill Santucci Justice Center, home to Placer Superior Court, the District Attorney’s Office and the South Placer Jail. It comes as Placer County contends with a rise in the number of inmates after California voters approved Proposition 36, which creates a new felony charge for a person accused of stealing for a third time.
Sheriff Wayne Woo said the idea for these two facilities came in 2011 after a law passed which redirected inmates away from state prison and to local jails. The county had an option to scrap its plans after delays and increasing costs hampered the project, he said.
“Placer County was faced with a decision: Walk away as well, or spend 20 more million dollars than they’d initially planned on to keep these projects moving,” Wayne said. “And I’m proud to say, through the leadership of our county executive’s office and our Board of Supervisors, they voted to continue these projects forward, knowing the increased demand that we would have here in Placer County throughout this process.”
The 16,300-square-foot mental health facility offers treatment for those arrested. It includes 45 beds, exam rooms, a dayroom, a recreation yard, and rooms designed for counseling session and interviews, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.
The 38,837-square-foot medium security vocational training center offers 120 beds, classrooms, vocational shops to provide job training skills and virtual and in-person visitation rooms, according to the Placer County Sheriff’s Office. It will offer welding, vinyl printing, embroidery and construction classes, according to previous Sacramento Bee reporting.
The vocational center and mental health facility is scheduled to be operational next month, a sheriff’s office spokesperson said.
The Sheriff’s Office prohibited the Bee from filming or shooting photos inside the two facilities.
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