Board Approves Contract to Build Indio Jail

Artist’s rendering of the East County Detention Center

By City News Service

Riverside County supervisors signed off Tuesday on the principal agreements needed for construction to begin on the $330 million East County Detention Center in Indio, which will replace the existing Indio Jail.

“It’s been a long road to get here,” said Supervisor John Benoit, in whose Fourth District the 516,000-square-foot facility will be placed.

“I’m pleased we’ve arrived at this day,” he said. “This is going to be a world-class, very efficient and very effective place where, unfortunately, some people are going to have to spend time because they’ve violated the norms of our society.”

In a 5-0 vote, the board approved a $274.9 million contract with Irvine-based Clark Construction to erect the ECDC under a 30-month timeline. The supervisors also authorized additional project expenditures related to soil testing, labor use compliance audits and engineering inspections.

The 1,673-bed facility is tentatively slated to be operational by December 2017, though the county is already planning a “phased-in” opening to contain costs.

Economic Development Agency spokesman Jeff Van Wagenen told City News Service a formal groundbreaking ceremony is in the works either immediately preceding or following the Fourth of July weekend.

The project has been at the forefront of the board’s capital improvement agenda for roughly the last three years. It took the place of a planned 8,000- bed “Hub Jail” in the community of Whitewater. Palm Springs business interests ardently opposed that proposal, concerned about its impact on the area’s image since the jail would’ve been readily visible from Interstate 10, on the eastern approach to the Coachella Valley.

About a dozen people appeared before the board to speak against the ECDC, protesting the use of funds for jail space instead of anti-recidivism programs, mental health assistance and other social welfare.

“You need to invest in health and education,” said Elizabeth Ayala of Riverside. “You want to incarcerate the community instead of invest in the community.”

“You’re using money for jails that should be used for bridges and toll roads,” UC Riverside student David Chavez told the board. “This is nonsensical. You should be investing in homeless shelters.”

About a half-dozen labor union representatives spoke in favor of the facility, praising the board for putting hardhats back to work on a long-term construction project.

Norco resident Julie Waltz said she didn’t mind that more than 450 additional people would eventually be put on the county payroll -- with new pension obligations -- to staff the new facility.

“Where else are we going to put these robbers, rapists and murderers?” Waltz said. “This is about public safety.”

Studies indicate the county may need up to 10,000 jail beds over the next two decades to keep up with demand for correctional space, especially after the state shifted responsibility for housing so-called “non-serious, non- violent” offenders in local facilities instead of prison, even to serve years- long sentences.

“There’s a lack of understanding of our predicament. Twenty-eight percent of the people jailed in our county are the result of state realignment,” said Undersheriff Bill DiYorio. “Some are long-term. We have individuals serving multiple years in our jail system.”

The county’s current jail capacity is just under 4,000 beds. Under a 1993 federal court decree, every inmate must have a bed, or the sheriff is required to release detainees to make room for incoming ones. The existing Indio Jail, which Benoit described as “deteriorating,” has room for 350 inmates.

The state fire marshal’s office formally approved the ECDC project in February after months of scrutiny. The state has promised $100 million to help pay for the project. The county’s share will be covered through bond sales.

The jail will occupy a 6 1/2-acre space collocated with the new County Law Building at Highway 111 and Oasis Street.