Proposed Santa Clara County Jail Estimated To Cost $281M Projected For 2020 Completion
SAN JOSE (CBS SF) -- A new Santa Clara County jail facility won't be completed for another four years and the price tag for the new building has gone up to $281 million.
The costs to construct the new Main Jail East went up $41 million from the original projected cost of $240 million, said county Chief Operating Officer Gray Graves during Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.
The board heard updated plans for the new facility, which will replace Main Jail South built in the 1950s.
"Main Jail South has seen its day. You have to replace it. You don't have a choice," Undersheriff John Hirokawa said.
The county would have to fund about $153 million to the project that will be paid through lease revenue bonds of $9.1 million over the course of 30 years, according to Graves.
In November, the Board of State and Community Corrections granted the county's application for $80 million for a new seven-story facility.
There will be added clinic space for dental, optometry, physical therapy and other services along with a space for in-person, non-contact visitation on each floor, according to Graves.
The addition adds an estimated $15.8 million to the total estimated cost, Graves said.
Under the proposed timeline, construction would begin in summer 2017 and be completed by February 2020, which extends the work by six months, Graves said.
Allison Brunner, who represents inmate rights on the county's Blue Ribbon Commission evaluating custody operations, said there should be investments in community-based programs to help divert people from going to jail.
Brunner, CEO of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley, said people should be incarcerated only when it's "absolutely necessary" and the new facility should help build a future for inmates through rehabilitation before
they return to the community.
Supervisor Ken Yeager was concerned that many people in jails who don't need to be there are incarcerated for various reasons such as lack of space at a mental health facility.
About half of the county's inmates suffer from mental illness and Yeager questioned whether a jail facility would be the "most appropriate place" for them to receive treatment.
The county is looking into programs that would allow inmates to interact with their families in their rehabilitation, but board President Dave Cortese questioned whether it would be in line with the county's no-contact rule.
The sheriff's office wouldn't be opposed to exploring programs that would allow those meetings, sheriff's correctional Capt. David Sepulveda said.
There would be 85 beds added to the county's jail system once construction is complete. The new facility will provide 815 beds and the county will close 730 beds at the Main Jail and Elmwood Correctional Facility in Milpitas.
Graves doesn't think the county needs to expand its facilities but instead needs to provide different types of housing.
The new facility would also establish special management housing to replace a floor that had been dedicated for general population inmates, Graves said.
The county is still transitioning with the influx of inmates under Assembly Bill 109, which moved low-level offenders from state prisons to county jails, Graves said.
A majority of the county's inmates serving time under AB 109 committed low- to mid-level felony charges such as drug possession and residential burglary, Sepulveda said.
Most of the jail population is under minimum to medium security, Sepulveda said.
"The proposal to build on existing site of Main Jail North is really going to create a really challenging construction environment," Graves said.
Supervisor Mike Wasserman was concerned about whether there would be enough space for a contractor to stage for the two-and-a-half year project.
The new jail facility is across the street from the County Government Center, which already has limited parking spaces, Wasserman said.
Wasserman proposed the idea of taking down the Old San Jose City Hall, which is on the same block as the county building, which could provide space for the contractor.
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