New Jail Problems in CA County
The 173,000 square feet of new jail space at Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning will be Riverside County’s most secure and advanced when completed next month. As reported by the Press-Enterprise.
Construction began two years ago on the $80 million, 582-bed expansion. There’s just one problem. The county hasn’t yet found the nearly $13 million a year needed to operate the new jail expansion.
If there is no new funding, the facility still could open but it would not provide the net increase in jail beds county officials had sought.
Riverside County is facing what some officials call its most challenging budget situation in history.
Supervisors are grappling with ways to bridge a $71 million budget gap and have said that over the next two years they might need to lay off as many as 1,600 workers.
The county’s discretionary revenues, which supervisors have control over, dropped to $609 million this year, while ongoing expenses top $680 million.
County CEO Bill Luna last week gave supervisors three options that would cut the county’s public safety departments, which include the Sheriff’s Department and district attorney’s office, anywhere from 3 to 10 percent in an effort to balance the county budget within two years.
The options included backfilling some of the sheriff’s losses in Prop. 172 sales tax revenue — a special fund for public safety — but not the nearly $13 million needed to run the Smith jail expansion.
Including the jail money would throw off the plan to balance the county’s budget within two years, Luna told supervisors.
Supervisors have long said public safety is their top priority, but some have said every department, including the sheriff’s, must make sacrifices and live within its means.
Sheriff Stan Sniff said he and his staff worked hard this year to find budget savings.
In a letter last week to supervisors, Sniff said the department is projected to close a $22.3 million budget gap by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. The deficit was erased through a hiring freeze, early retirements, leaving promotional vacancies unfilled and securing a large federal grant, officials said.
But Sniff said his balanced budget does not include funding for the jail expansion. Additional cuts would be hard to absorb and would come from either jail operations or patrols in unincorporated areas, he said. “We are pretty threadbare,” Sniff said in an interview.
On a recent tour, workers were busy finishing the jail’s interior. Cell walls are 2 inches thick and made of 12-gauge metal, which maximizes space and is more secure.
The expansion’s 582 beds are in three housing units that are two stories each, and surround centralized medical and mental health services.
Each cell holds two beds — not dormitory style like in older jails — and each is easy to see into. Inmates won’t have to travel far for needed services, either — something sheriff’s officials say adds security.
Recreation areas are close by, as are areas for visitations, which will be done through a video link. “This is state of the art,” said Deputy Chief Steve Thetford, who oversees corrections. “It will be the most secure facility in our system.”
Sniff said the jail expansion is critical, given space shortages and the prospect of California releasing state prisoners into county custody, a move included in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s most recent budget proposal.
“We are in crisis,” the sheriff said. “We already are in a position with no space.” The expansion will make the Smith correctional facility in Banning the county’s largest, with more than 1,500 beds.
Thetford said the Sheriff’s Department must hire 142 additional people to operate the jail. Sniff said it takes time to hire and train people. He said he needs a decision on how to move forward. “I need a signal pretty soon,” he said.
Board of Supervisors Chairman Marion Ashley said finding the funding for the jail is a priority for him. “I believe that public safety is not only our constitutional duty but our No. 1 goal,” he said at last week’s board meeting.
“We need to open Larry Smith and get that operating as soon as possible. Our jails are going to be under a lot of pressure, and we really need to expand our jail.”
But Supervisor Bob Buster said the jail should be looked at closely, noting that supervisors did promise taxpayers that it was one of their top priorities.
“The sheriff in his other operations needs to participate in reductions and skillful management so that he can free up money to help staff this jail,” Buster said. “He himself came in and agreed it was a top priority.”
Where the money will come from, though, remains in doubt. Supervisors are expected to again take up the county’s fiscal troubles Feb. 9.
Sheriff’s officials said even without the extra money to operate the Smith expansion, it won’t sit idle.
The department will shift inmates and staff from existing jails into the expansion. Plus, the county must eventually vacate 289 beds in an old jail in downtown Riverside because of seismic safety issues.
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