HOLLISTER
The State of California Corrections Standards Authority gave San Benito County a conditional offer of $15.05 million to expand the local jail, Sheriff Curtis J. Hill announced today.
“This is based on a number of criteria that had to be met in order to receive the award,” said the sheriff. “I’m proud to say we’ve met all the requirements. It was a great effort by a number of folks working together.”
According to Hill, the expansion will take the county jail from a 142-bed facility to 202, and will be linked with a 500-bed parolee reentry facility in Paso Robles that San Benito County will share with San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Working with the state government for such a reentry facility was among the criteria necessary to qualify for the $15 million in matching funds.
Those criteria, and a host of others, was met by only five counties classified as “small” by the state clearing the way for an 85 percent matching funds grant from the state for the expansion. The other 15 percent is handled through the county, and those monies have already been “secured and set aside,” according to Hill.
“This means two big things have happened,” said Hill “One is that we will work with the state to provide a better framework for the successful reentry for parolees in our community through the Paso Robles facility. The other is that we have obtained funding to expand our local jail, something that normally comes along only every 15 or 20 years.”
Hill attributes the success to many local people and organizations.
“During this process, I have received tremendous support from the Board of Supervisors, county administration, and behavioral health to name just a few,” he said.
