Plans to expand Sacramento County jail stall -- for now
Supervisors to revisit Rio Consumnes Correctional Center plans in 2 weeks
Supervisors to revisit Rio Consumnes Correctional Center plans in 2 weeks
Supervisors to revisit Rio Consumnes Correctional Center plans in 2 weeks
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors decided not to move forward with plans for a jail expansion -- at least for right now.
Officials are concerned about the cost to make changes to the Rio Consumnes Correctional Center.
After a lengthy discussion Tuesday, supervisors decided to continue the discussion in two weeks. They’re scheduled to make a decision on what happens next on Nov. 5.
The work was supposed to be completed years ago. The Sacramento County supervisors discussed several issues during their meeting Tuesday, including rejecting the current bids for the expansion, reducing the scope of the project and possibly putting the project on hold altogether.
According to Sacramento County Supervisor Don Nottoli, the expansion could cost up to $90 million. He said the county has had to scale back the project twice already. The most recent bids are $15 million more than the estimates.
“As we looked at the initial plans and then coming back and recognizing that there's no way that, even with those initial plans, we were going to make the budget without significant investment of additional county dollars,” Nottoli said.
Rio Consumnes Correctional Center, which opened in 1960, now houses inmates after sentencing in minimum, medium and maximum security sections. It currently houses 1,742 inmates.
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said the expansion and improvements are necessary.
“It is something that, as a sheriff's office, we need in order to provide better services for the inmates,” Sgt. Tess Deterding said.
The sheriff's office said the proposed expansion would not increase the number of people housed there.
“This is not an expansion of bed space," Deterding said. "This is not us asking to put more bodies behind bars at this facility. This is in order for us to be able to provide better services to the inmates and therefore to the communities that we serve."
At least one group said the jail expansion shouldn't happen at all.
While chanting “care, not cages” and holding signs, members of the group called Decarcerate Sacramento made their position clear.
“Stop any jail expansion,” Tifanei Ressl-Moyer said earlier in the day.
“They continue to operate their criminal justice system with no community wisdom or testimony by those who are directly system impacted,” Niki Jones said.
The sheriff's office said the conversations surrounding the expansion started in 2012. That was before a lawsuit related to the jail's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act was filed. The sheriff's office said the expansion would cover some of the issues identified in the lawsuit.
The expansion would affect the medical and mental health treatment of current inmates and booking. It would also expand the reentry programs offered at the correctional center.
“These are folks that we're trying to get prepared to be productive members of our communities that we serve, as well,” Deterding said.