Megan Cassidy
San Francisco Chronicle
ALAMEDA COUNTY, Calif. — Alameda County Sheriff Greg Ahern is considering closing Glenn E. Dyer jail in Oakland as a cost-cutting measure that could save the county millions, a spokesman said Wednesday.
Sgt. Ray Kelly said officials have floated the idea around budget time every year for the past two or three years, and 2019 is shaping up the same way.
“Every year we look at feasibility,” Kelly said. “It is an old facility, and it does cost us a tremendous amount of money to run that facility.”
The decision comes amid declining inmate populations and rising costs to incarcerate them. While the facility houses a maximum of more than 800 people, its current population hovers around 400, Kelly said.
If shuttered, Glenn E. Dyer’s inhabitants would be transferred to Alameda County’s other, larger detention facility, the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. Santa Rita lately holds an average daily population of 2,100, but has the capacity to house well over 3,000, Kelly said.
Kelly said the closing would not create layoffs, as the jail’s staff could be absorbed through attrition into other positions. The savings would mostly come from operational costs like keeping the lights on and running its own kitchen and medical facilities.
There are disadvantages too, many due to the lengthy drive from Oakland to Dublin.
The Glenn E. Dyer facility is a block away Oakland police’s downtown headquarters, and transporting detainees to Santa Rita Jail would add a minimum of an hour onto each arrest, Kelly said.
The Oakland location is also convenient for many family and attorney-client visits. Kelly said sheriff’s officials will conduct a feasibility study before making any decision, speaking with officials from the public defender’s office, prosecutors, U.S. Marshals, judges and members of the community.
Alameda County Public Defender Brendon Woods said although he’s in favor of closing more jails, he believes shutting down the local facility would be “ill-advised.”
“If people from this part of the country are going to be held in custody, they should be here, closer to their community, families and the courthouses where their cases will be heard,” he said.
The facility holds both county and federal detainees.
Kelly said if Ahern opted to close the jail this year, he would likely make the decision before the end of the fiscal year in June.
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