Wednesday, October 29, 2008

State funds have a catch, and officials don't like it

By Tim Moran
tmoran@modbee.com

last updated: October 28, 2008 02:43:15 AM

Stanislaus County is being offered almost $40 million to expand the county's jail complex -- but county officials are choking on a string attached to the money.

The county needs to add 420 medium and maximum security beds to its overcrowded jail on Hackett Road south of Modesto. The jail is at capacity, and the county is using early release and alternative sentencing programs to handle the inmate population.

A 2007 study of the sheriff's facility needs, which included demolition of the aging honor farm and downtown Modesto jail, the expansion of the Hackett Road jail complex and a new coroner's facility, came up with a price tag of $210.5 million. Just adding the 420 beds is estimated to cost $79 million, in 2007 dollars. That includes 300 new beds and 120 gained through "double bunking" in cells.

The state is offering the county $39.79 million to add the 300 new beds. The money, which would be matched with local funding, comes from an authorized bond issue tied to Assembly Bill 900, which provides more than $7 billion statewide for county jail expansions. The bonds have not been sold yet.

The unpalatable string attached to the deal is that the county would have to agree to locate a state-operated "re-entry facility" in the county.

A county response to the offer is on today's Board of Supervisors agenda. The recommended response is to indicate that the county would like the money but will decline the re-entry facility -- which is not an option offered by the state.

A re-entry facility is a state prison for inmates with 12 months left on their sentences. The facility would house no more than 500 inmates, all from the county or region where they resided at the time they went to prison. The inmates would be offered programs such as drug abuse treatment, education and vocational skills, and housing help to keep them from committing new crimes and coming back through the prison system.

The sticking point, according to Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson, is who would operate the re-entry facility. The jail expansion funding originally was to be a partnership between the county and state, he said, with the Sheriff's Department running the re-entry facility.

The state Legislature changed the intent, he said, so that the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation would operate the facility. That causes several problems, according to Christianson and county Chief Executive Officer Rick Robinson.

"The county would love to have the $39 million we have been offered," Robinson said. "But not if the trade-off is having a state-operated prison facility in our county."

Among the county concerns:

The state pays its correctional officers significantly more than the county pays its jail employees. "The county wouldn't be competitive in attracting and retaining good corrections employees," Robinson said.

Crimes committed within the re-entry facility would increase the workload of the county district attorney's office, the public defender's office and related services, according to Robinson.

The county has serious problems with drug abuse and gang activity, and the state prison could introduce more of that activity, Robinson said. While the re-entry facility is a minimum security prison, the county fears that the state could convert it to a medium security prison.

The county Sheriff's Department has historically done a better job of running rehabilitation programs than the state, according to Christianson.

Seth Unger, press secretary for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said most of those concerns are unwarranted.

Rehabilitation the focus

The re-entry facility would be capped at 500 inmates, and would remain a rehabilitation facility as defined in the law, Unger said. The inmates are from the county and would be released in the county with or without the rehabilitation, Unger said. Without the re-entry facility, they are typically given $200 and a bus ticket back to the county in which they last resided.

The re-entry program is designed to reduce the 70 percent rate at which released prisoners violate parole or commit new crimes during the first three years after they leave prison, Unger said.

"Stanislaus County will benefit from that. The inmates will be better prepared to integrate into society," he said.

Stanislaus doesn't necessarily have to put the facility within the county, Unger added. Some counties have worked out partnerships to share one re-entry facility. San Joaquin County, for instance, is partnering with Calaveras and Amador counties to have one re-entry facility for the three counties. Santa Barbara County is partnering with San Benito and Monterey counties, Unger said.

The combined facilities would still house no more than 500 inmates, he said.

Robinson and Christianson said the county's jail expansion will happen with or without the state grant. Money for the project would come from public facilities fees collected from developers and county-issued bonds, Robinson said. The project will probably have to be done in phases, with the $80 million jail expansion the top priority.

"That's their prerogative," Unger said of the county spurning the money to avoid the state re-entry facility.

Bee staff writer Tim Moran can be reached at tmoran@modbee.com or 578-2349.

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