Jail Crowding: Overflow Inmates to Be Sent to Imperial County

The Board of Supervisors today approved a sheriff’s request to contract with neighboring Imperial County for the use of its jail space, facilitating the transfer of nearly three-dozen inmates when Riverside County runs out of room for them.

“This is to help us do something other than just release folks out into the public,” Undersheriff Bill DiYorio told the Board of Supervisors. “We tried San Bernardino County, but they didn’t want to rent out their (inmate) beds. Imperial was our last option. So we wanted to take advantage of the offer rather than releasing inmates.”

Sheriff’s documents noted that the contract was “not a long-term solution” but would temporarily lessen the burden on the county jail apparatus “until adequate jail bed capacity can be achieved.”

The contract with Imperial will permit housing up to 35 inmates at its detention facilities at a cost of $82.83 per day per inmate.

Under a 1993 federal court decree, the sheriff is required to have a jail bed available for every detainee, and when all five detention facilities are filled, occupied jail beds must be vacated to make room for incoming inmates.

The conundrum of a growing inmate population and limited correctional space has been exacerbated by state public safety realignment legislation that went into effect in October 2011 as part of Gov. Jerry Brown’s effort to reduce overcrowding in state prisons.

Realignment made counties responsible for housing most parole violators, as well as convicts whose crimes fall into the so-called “non-serious, non- violent” category.

Between 1993 and 2011, 24,236 inmates were released based solely on space limitations, according to sheriff’s officials. By contrast, in the roughly 43 months since realignment, 28,742 inmates have been freed prior to serving out their misdemeanor sentences or having their cases disposed just to make room in Riverside County jails, according to the sheriff’s department.

The county has 3,914 inmate beds available. Groundbreaking is scheduled next month for the $330 million East County Detention Center in Indio, which will net the county an additional 1,323 beds -- but not until 2018.

“We’re absolutely moving in a positive direction,” said Supervisor John Benoit. “We’ve taken some very aggressive moves to solve overcrowding ... and keep bad people in jail when we can.”

Under the agreement with Imperial, the sheriff’s department will need a $1.056 million allocation to cover contract expenses in the 2015-16 fiscal year, with the option of renewing the contract over the ensuing four years at a total cost of $4.2 million.

No general fund money will be allocated; sheriff’s officials said state disbursals to offset realignment costs will be utilized.

--City News Service; Image via Patch Archive