County awarded additional funds for expansion of Indio Juvenile Hall
A $1.6 million state grant was accepted today by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors for a project to expand Indio Juvenile Hall in the next three years, adding space for educational and therapeutic purposes.
“This will allow us to enhance the space utilized for intake, assessment, attorney visits, mental health treatment,” Riverside County Chief Probation Officer Mark Hake told the board.
Hake said the grant funds came available after Tulare County was unable to put the money to work on a juvenile detention facility, prompting the California Board of State & Community Corrections to award Riverside County the revenue based on an application submitted last year.
The grant is considered a supplement to a $15.8 million sum that the BSCC awarded the county in 2015 as part of the Youthful Offender Rehabilitative Facility Construction Program. The money is generated from lease revenue bonds.
Indio Juvenile Hall was last remodeled in 1982 and is in dire need of additional units to meet growing demand, according to Hake.
He said a 16-bed treatment facility is planned, along with new classrooms, multi-purpose rooms, and a group therapy conference center.
The expansion project is in the design phase but should be under construction within the next year or two and completed sometime in 2020.
The county will have to allocate about $7 million in funds from other sources to pay for the build-out, according to Department of Probation documents.
Indio Juvenile Hall is one of three youth detention facilities located
in Riverside County.
