Does Santa Clara County Need $70 Million New Jail Tower?

The Santa Clara County Main Jail should add a $70 million, 10-story tower and demolish an aging section to deal with an influx of inmates who until a few years ago served time in state prisons, county officials said this week.

Supervisors Mike Wasserman and Cindy Chavez, members of the county Public Safety and Justice Committee, voted Wednesday to accept a staff report assessing the changing needs of the county’s jail facilities following the passage in 2011 of AB 109.

The bill sent many California prison inmates convicted of low-level crimes to county jails rather than state prisons to reduce prison overcrowding. Wasserman said since then the increase of inmates at the Main Jail has been “meteoric.”

The county is considering replacing aging facilities at a cost of $70 million, plus about $11 million to pay for 100 correctional officers.

“Then it will be a matter of finding out how to pay for it,” he said.

The county’s Main Jail Complex at 150 W. Hedding St. consists of the Main Jail South, built in 1956, and the more modern Main Jail North.

County Executive Gary Graves said the proposed replacement for the Main Jail South would have a 10-floor tower behind it equipped with 480 single cells that could house up to 960 inmates with two per cell.

Department of Correction Chief John Hirokawa said the county’s inmate population, which hovered at only about 300 inmates before AB 109’s passage, is now at 465 to 485 and reached a peak of 610 last year.

The influx of felony convicts has changed the nature of the jail population.

Before the law was passed, about 85 percent of jail inmates were being held waiting to go to court and 15 percent were serving 35 to 40 days on average for misdemeanor convictions, Hirokawa said.

Now, about 65 to 70 percent are awaiting court hearings while 30 to 35 percent are serving sentences averaging 215 days, he said.

While the county has a sufficient number of beds to hold less-dangerous minimum-security inmates, there are not enough for those requiring maximum-security or for the medical and mental health needs of inmates, he said.

The problem is most serious at the 10-story Main Jail South, since it is nearly 60 years old and, unlike other county buildings, it is in use seven days a week all year, making it more like a 100-year-old facility “in desperate need of replacement,” he said.

The old tower was built in a different era and does not fit well with modern jail programs or the current generation of inmates, such as members of rival criminal street gangs who must be housed separately, he said. About 28 percent of the county’s inmates are being treated for mental illnesses, he said.

Most inmates in the county’s jail population are men, but there has also been an increase in women serving time in maximum security for serious crimes.

They must be kept apart from minimum security inmates, whom they might exploit, he said. Under one proposal, the new tower would be constructed and most of Main Jail South would be demolished, he said.

The county could apply for grant funds from the state to help pay for the building and after funding is secured and proposal and bidding processes completed, the tower might be completed within 2.5 to 3 years, he said.

--Bay City News

Also on Patch:

• Know Me? I Tell Pharmacists I Have Bomb and Demand Oxycodone: Police
• SAP Employees Donate $50,000 to STEM-Focused Non-Profits
• Congrats to Palo Alto High School Math Team
• With Love From Campbell: 2015 Valentine 10K & 5K Fun Run/Walk Is Feb. 7
• Your Travel Specialist On: Paris, France
• 59 Measles Cases Confirmed in CA, Including in Santa Clara County
• Renowned Photographer/Author To Visit Santa Clara Library District