Zachary K. Johnson
The Record
STOCKTON — A state panel voted Thursday in favor of giving San Joaquin County more than $33 million toward building a new, higher-security lockup to replace the County Jail system’s minimum-security Honor Farm.
The award of $33.3 million in lease-revenue bond financing falls short of the $40 million the county asked for in a proposal to build a new correctional facility with space for increased rehabilitation programs.
Though the proposal doesn’t add to the total number of jail beds in the county, local officials said it will allow jailers the increased security and flexibility to house more inmates in the chronically full jail. About 100 more inmate beds could be used, officials said.
Capacity in the jail has been an issue for years, as inmates are routinely released early under a court order. Now county officials are taking stock of what other funds the county has to spend while looking for a less costly proposal that will still fulfil the mission of the original pitch to the state.
“It isn’t going to do us any good to build a project that isn’t going to do what we need it to do,” San Joaquin County Sheriff Steve Moore said. He said he didn’t know exactly where those costs could be, but that the Sheriff’s Office working to prepare a new proposal that would do just that.
The county needs more jail beds, and it needs more programs for criminal offenders, County Administrator Monica Nino said. An award that falls nearly $7 million short of the asked amount is a significant difference, she said, but there could be money available to help make up the difference.
Officials are preparing the next budget. “We’re evaluating what we have available,” she said, noting that a favorable bidding environment also could bring construction costs down.
The ultimate decision on whether to add more county funds to the project falls to the Board of Supervisors, which is expected to talk about the way forward at its Jan. 28 meeting.
A cost-cutting proposal might be only part of the solution, board Chairman Bob Elliott said. He noted that the county still has some funds that had been put aside for an earlier proposal to build a new jail. And this project is a high priority for the county.
The county’s $33.3 million award comes from $500 million that the state Board of State and Community Corrections is in charge of doling out. On Thursday, the board voted to accept recommendations from a steering committee that scored proposals to add jails and programs in counties across the state.
The money comes from a statewide effort to support a shift from the state to counties to handle certain lower-level felons without sending them to state prison. It is commonly referred to as “realignment.” Designed to reduce prison crowding, it also has a strong emphasis on rehabilitative programs and alternatives to incarceration.
The $500 million is meant to support those efforts statewide.
It was a competitive application process, and San Joaquin County was among 15 counties recommended to receive a piece of the funding. In total, 36 counties had asked for $1.3 billion.
“Those counties that were able to cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i’ were able to come out at the top of the list,” Kathleen Howard, executive director of the state agency, said at the meeting of the state board in Los Angeles County on Thursday. The meeting drew critics, both from activists against spending state funds on building more jails and from sheriffs from other counties who did not receive funding and were critical of the selection process.
Howard said the proposals from the county were evaluated “fairly, objectively and consistently,” though some counties had asked about the appeal process. Counties have 30 days to appeal. A successful appeal could knock San Joaquin County off the list for funding, Howard said after the vote.
San Joaquin County was ranked fifth of 11 medium-size counties that applied for funding. It was the lowest ranking in the category to receive funding. Butte and Stanislaus counties are the next in line, and both had issues with the selection process.
“We have no intention to take money from another county,” said Patricia Hill-Thomas, Stanislaus County’s chief operating officer, though it is still considering its options, she added. But all the counties are in the same situation when it comes to handling responsibilities that have come with the statewide realignment shift. “All the counties need the funds desperately.”
Butte County Undersheriff Kory Honea had a similar view. “All the counties deserve funding and would put it to good use,” he said. Butte County doesn’t plan to appeal, he said.
But the county does intend to try again, he said. In Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget released last week, there is another $500 million for facilities and programs in counties that support the wider realignment efforts.