Funding For More Local Jail Beds Could Be Coming

Riverside County supervisors are expected to formally accept a $100 million state grant today to support expansion of local correctional facilities to guarantee adequate space for a fast-growing inmate population.

The State Corrections Authority announced earlier this month that Riverside County would be one of 11 to receive a slice of $602 million in bond revenue under the 2011 Public Safety Realignment Act, approved last April.

The county has just under 4,000 inmate beds. According to sheriff’s officials, the $100 million infusion will go toward adding another 1,200 beds.

Along with the award acceptance, the supervisors are slated today to consider an Economic Development Agency request to establish an interest- bearing fund into which to deposit the state money, and whether to authorize the use of $10 million in development impact fee revenue — generated from construction projects — in support of the correctional system expansion.

According to EDA officials, the estimated cost of the jail build-out will be about $237 million, requiring a $130 million commitment of county cash and smaller in-kind matches over the next few years.

The state payments will be made in arrears, meaning the county will have to front initial project costs and then bill California for distribution of the grant funds, local officials said.

All 58 of California’s counties are being forced to house a greater number of inmates because of Assembly Bill 109, which took effect Oct. 1.

The realignment legislation mandates that individuals convicted of crimes that fall into the non-violent, non-serious, non-sexually oriented category, and whose principal offense results in a sentence of three years or less, are to be incarcerated in county jails.

So-called “non’s” or “N3s” — including driving under the influence offenders, drug users, child abusers and identity thieves — released from prison are also to be supervised by county probation agents, instead of parole officers with the Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, as was traditionally the case.

The law was touted as an efficiency measure by Gov. Jerry Brown and other lawmakers, who implemented it in response to a federal court decree that California reduce its prison population by 33,000 inmates over the next two years because of overcrowding.

According to county public safety officials, AB 109 has led to a heavier burden on local resources.

In the first four months the law has been operational, 570 non’s have been sentenced to jail time locally, according to a probation department report. It said nearly 2,000 are expected to receive jail sentences in the first full year.

Since Jan. 1, more than 600 inmates have been released early from county jails to make room for the influx. For the last 20 years, the county has been under a federal court order requiring that every detainee have a bed — or sheriff’s officials must reduce the jail population.

The Indio Jail is listed as a top capital improvement priority, but county officials have emphasized that even with the state funding boost, expansion of the facility is still several years away.