State grant offers money for more beds, rehabilitation
programs
San Benito County officials are applying for a state grant that
would fund jail expansion and a rehabilitation program for inmates
reentering the county from state prisons.
State grant offers money for more beds, rehabilitation programs
San Benito County officials are applying for a state grant that would fund jail expansion and a rehabilitation program for inmates reentering the county from state prisons.
The grant is competitive, said Curtis Hill, San Benito County Sheriff. If San Benito County officials are awarded the money, expansion would increase capacity at the current jail site by 60 inmates, Hill said. The jail has a capacity of 145 now.
It would also fund an expansion of the medical facilities at the jail and remodel the intake and exit facilities, Hill said.
The grant requires county officials to plan construction around what county needs will be from 2010 to 2111, Hill said.
Construction would cost about $15 million, Hill said.
The average construction cost for each new bed in a county jail is $123,000, Hill said.
“Counties cannot afford that,” Hill said. “We rely on state funding to do that.”
State officials would pay for 75 percent of the construction, Hill said. County officials fund the other 25 percent, Hill said.
County officials would pay state officials a cash match of nearly $2.6 million, Hill said.
The in-kind match is nearly $2.5 million, Hill said. Staff time and the value of the site are categorized as in-kind, Hill said.
Construction would start in 2010, Hill said, if they receive the grant. It would take 14 months, Hill said.
“We would be going into the new jail in March 2011,” Hill said.
It is important to obtain money for jail construction whenever it becomes available, Hill said.
“Jail funding only comes around every 15 or 20 years,” Hill said.
The expansion will help county officials meet projected future needs in San Benito County, he said.
The grants will be awarded on May 28, Hill said.
Jail construction money became available as a result of Assembly Bill 900, signed by Gov. Schwarzenegger in 2007, Hill said. The bill designates $100 million for small counties, Hill said. There are 21 small counties in California, Hill said.
The bill authorizes state officials to spend $50 million on rehabilitation programs, Hill said.
That will not be enough money to fund local rehabilitation programs, Hill said.
“The state is just warehousing people,” Hill said.
Two thirds of California’s inmates return to prison, according to a study from the University of California, Irvine.
More than half of those are for parole violations, according to the study.
Currently, there are 179,000 people in state prisons, Hill said. Of those, 122,000 are in for parole violations, Hill said.
“The rest of them are in there in this revolving door,” Hill said.
“That’s why the prisons are full.”
The state provides county officials with no money for reentry programs, Hill said.
Inmates returning to the county are dropped off by a bus on Fourth and San Benito streets with a $200 check, minus the cost of the bus ticket, Hill said.
If county officials receive the grant, inmates returning to San Benito County from state facilities would participate in a rehabilitation program, Hill said.
On average, 48 people from San Benito come back from state jails every year, Hill said.
The rehabilitation program proposed by county officials was designed in partnership with officials from San Luis Obispo.
Inmates from San Luis Obispo and San Benito would use the facility, Hill said.
San Benito officials do not want to build a reentry facility, Hill said. State officials said that the rehabilitation facility must be a separate facility, Hill said.
When inmates still have time left on their sentence, they will be transferred to a facility in San Luis Obispo.
The program is still in the planning stages, but it would include anger management, mental health and job training programs, Hill said.
“The idea is to provide people with the skills they need to be successful in society,” Hill said.
When their time is up, officials from San Benito County will pick them up and bring them back to San Benito County, Hill said.
As part of their parole, inmates would work with a rehabilitation counselor, said Astevia Lopez-Bushnell, inmate services program manager for the San Benito County sheriff’s department.
County officials would hire a rehabilitation counselor as part of the grant, Hill said.
“The rehabilitation counselor would assist the rehabilitation program by providing intensive case management,” Lopez-Bushnell said, “for issues such as education, job readiness, family reintegration, substance abuse, mental heath.”
By the Numbers
145 San Benito County jail current capacity
60 Additional capacity after state grant
$250,000 Construction cost for each new bed in San Benito’s county jail
$0 Amount county will receive from state for prevention programs from this grant
