Home California County Board of Supervisors Set to Discuss $95 Million Richmond Jail Expansion

County Board of Supervisors Set to Discuss $95 Million Richmond Jail Expansion

by ECT

On Tuesday, the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors will will discuss the Sheriff’s request to move forward with approval to apply for $70 million in funding to expand the Richmond Jail.

The goal of the project is to relieve overcrowding at other county facilities, but also provide additional services from re-entry programs to mental health related services.

Utilizing matching funds, the total cost for the West Contra Costa County Reentry, Treatment and Housing (“WRTH”) facility project is estimated at $95.2 million with an operating cost of $5 million.

The Sheriff’s Office is hoping to get board approval to utilize SB 844 legislation which provides for counties the size of Contra Costa County to receive up to $70 million from the State with a requirement to contribute at least 10% of the total project cost, and meet other conditions of the award.

According to the Staff Report, the County is seeking Board of Supervisor Approval in applying for funding in the amount of $70 million from the Board of State and Community Corrections (“BSCC”). The funds will be used to build a proposed new facility at the West County Detention Facility (“WCDF”) campus that adds 160 high security cells, and 48 high security, special use cells for mentally ill offenders (416 replacement beds total. These beds will replace 420 existing beds at MDF, resulting in a net reduction of 4 beds to the County’s rated capacity. In addition to providing appropriate housing to address the unsafe, over-crowded housing at MDF, the WRTH will also establish a 20,127 square foot Reentry Service Center (“RSC”) available to every inmate not only at the WRTH, but also the entire WCDF campus, and include the following (not a complete listing):

  • A Rehabilitation and Reentry Services Center (7,845 sf)
  • A Workforce Readiness Center (3,570 sf),
  • A Child/Parent Contact Visitation Center (2,125 sf),
  • A Medical and Psychiatric Services Clinic (2,352 sf), and
  • A Non-Contact Visiting Center (750 sf).

The entire building is a two-level facility, each with mezzanines, with a total of 118,907 square feet.

According to the Power Point provided in the Board of Supervisor Packet, the Sheriff will report that the facility is designed to provide individuals returning to the community the reentry programs and behavioral health treatment they desperately need.

The Martinez Detention Facility was constructed in 1978 and is outdated and overcrowded. It was designed for 384 people to reside in single occupancy cells, meanwhile, it has little educational, vocational, and re-entry programs available to individuals.

Details of the Proposed Reentry and Treatment Facility

  • There will be seven high security rated housing units, totaling a maximum of 416 beds:
  • One Acute Services Unit (32 bed maximum capacity) for men with serious and persistent mental illness who cannot function in general population.
  • One Special Services Unit (64 bed maximum capacity) for men who are experiencing short-term episodes of decompensation, detox, or need stabilization.
  • Five Standard Housing Units (64 bed maximum capacity) for the remainder of the population housed in the new building.

All together, 25,000 sf of the new facility will be dedicated to vocational and rehabilitative programming, contact visiting for parents + children, non-contact visiting, and clinical and medical services:

  • Program/educational space within the 7 housing units
  • Rehabilitation and Reentry Services Center
  • Workforce Readiness Center
  • Family Visiting Center (contact visitation)
  • Non-Contact Visiting Center
  • Medical/Psychiatric Services Clinic

Programs and Mental Health Treatment to be Added in the New Facility

  • The Rehabilitation and Reentry Program (R&R Program) will provide a comprehensive and integrated array of validated, evidence-based, trauma informed, cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) services.
  • Expanded behavioral health services:
  • Cognitive Based Treatments such as Thinking for a Change
  • Moral Reconation Therapy (MRT)
  • Controlling Anger and Learning to Manage (CALM)
  • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
  • Motivational Interviewing (MI)
  • Seeking Safety
  • Substance Use Disorder / Co-Occurring Disorder Treatment
  • Parenting Inside Out (PIO) and child contact visitation (Open to all WCDF)
  • Robust adult education and vocational classes (similar to those currently provided at WCDF)
  • Workforce Readiness

Regional Impacts

  • About 400 people will be moved out of the MDF, closing two housing units, reducing overcrowding, and allowing all cells to be returned to single-occupancy, as they were designed.
  • A total of 420 beds will be decommissioned at the MDF.
  • Some vacated space can be modestly repurposed as small meeting spaces for programs.
  • Full-time transition coaches and resource developers will be dedicated to people remaining at the MDF and MCDF.
  • In addition to the current women’s housing, a second unit at the WCDF will be exclusively dedicated to women with special needs.
Also within the Board Packet is a 129-page Jail Needs Assessment for the County conducted in August of 2015 reports that the County has a low per capita incarceration rate, at 33% below the state average.
It also reports, Despite the County’s best efforts, however, including the use of alternatives to detention programs and the implementation of a pilot Pretrial Services program, the detention system has struggled to keep pace with County population growth, coupled with the rapid increase in statewide incarceration rates over the past 30 years.

According to the assessment, Providing 416 replacement high-security beds, the proposed West County Reentry, Treatment, and Housing Facility (WRTH) will allow the County to depopulate the aging and overcrowded Martinez Detention Facility (MDF), increasing its safe and effective operations consistent with its original direct supervision design. WRTH includes the construction of a Reentry Services Complex to house reentry and workforce readiness services, behavioral health services, and child/parent contact visitation services. All people housed in either new or existing housing units at WCDF will have access to a robust array of programming and services currently unavailable at WCDF or MDF due to serious space, design, and capacity limitations.

Findings Specific to Martinez Detention Facility:
  • MDF’s original facility design and operational philosophy have been severely compromised in the past 30 years, due in large part to the fact that its BSCC-rated capacity has nearly been nearly doubled since its original rating in 1981.
  • With its current double-bunked operations, MDF is chronically operating above functional capacity and often experiences population peaks above its current rated capacity.
  • Though originally designed as a medium-security facility, MDF has come to serve as the County’s only high-security facility as well as its behavioral health facility, neither of which is consistent with its original intent as a medium-security facility designed to house people for short terms, usually during their Court proceedings.
  • Because MDF was not designed to provide long-term housing and thus lacks any meaningful program spaces, MDF’s physical infrastructure enables the provision of essentially no programs or therapeutic services to the very populations that could most benefit from these resources.
  • Because MDF’s current rated-capacity is nearly double the number for which it was designed, people incarcerated at MDF experience extremely long periods of confinement in their cells, which is inconsistent with either safety or rehabilitation.

Report Recommendations

  1. Move people with behavioral health needs out of MDF and into new and appropriate housing.

    Current housing conditions and lack of access to rehabilitative programs and therapeutic services exacerbate behavioral health issues and are inconsistent with recovery and successful reentry.

  2. Depopulate MDF to improve resident behavioral management and safety and security.

    When built, MDF was a state-of-the-art direct supervision facility in both physical plant and operational philosophy. However, because the increases in its BSCC-rated capacity in the last 30 years have led to chronic double-bunking and overcrowding, the tenets of direct supervision cannot be maintained, compromising the safety and security of residents and staff, as demonstrated by high rates of assaults at the facility.

    Returning the housing unit capacities to 48 beds as originally designed will improve safety and security at MDF. In addition, reducing the overcrowded conditions will improve enhance the effectiveness of any new programming introduced at the facility.

  3. Increase the availability of programs that enhance reintegration back into the community and reduce recidivism.

    After enhancements in programming and JMS, develop metrics to measure success and identify areas in need of improvement. In particular, measure the recidivism rates of people who have been returned to custody, including those returned while on probation or parole.

    Approximately 36% of people in the Contra Costa detention system were under judicial supervision at the time of their return to custody. On the surface, this suggests large gaps or weaknesses in the continuum of reentry and reintegration programming, both in custody and in community.

    Reducing the number of people on probation or parole when returned to jail should be a high priority. This group, while still under judicial supervision, could be targeted for in-custody and post-incarceration programming to enhance their rates of success.

  4. Enhance programming opportunities for 18-24 year olds.

    Of the various age cohorts, this group is the largest within the Contra Costa jail system. Providing a continuum of appropriate services in-custody, during transition, and during reintegration is consistent with best practices recognized nationally. Reducing the number of young adults in the system can support long-term recidivism reduction.

  5. Following the development and implementation of a robust and integrated Jail Management System (JMS), modify the intake process to solicit more information, including:
    • Prior arrests
    • Parental status
    • Ages of children, if any
    • Housing status (prior to arrest)
    • Employment status (prior to arrest)
    • Behavioral health status
    • Family involvement in the Child Welfare system
    • Status of enrollment in healthcare
    • Contact information for family member or other personal support

    A good JMS is worth its weight in gold, providing useable data for analysis to guide operations, improve policies, and inform new initiatives. The current JMS can produce only extremely limited data reports and does not appropriately integrate information provided by the various departments that operate inside the detention system. In developing this JNA, nearly all of the data related to demographics and composition of the population currently incarcerated in the jail required manual aggregation –an extremely time-consuming and inefficient process.

    A data system that allows for real-time data collection, output, and analysis, designed to comply with all state and federal privacy laws, would allow the Sheriff’s Office to be more nimble and responsive to the needs of the detention population.

  6. Investigate the use of a behavior-based classification system in lieu of a charge-based classification system.

    A behavior-based classification system is an effective management and safety and security tool. At its most basic level, such a classification system allows security detention staff to regularly recognize and encourage positive behavior.

    In most jail systems across the country, an individual’s security classification is reviewed only when the person’s behavior triggers negative sanctions; an increase in classification rating (from medium to high, for example) typically reduces privileges and greater increases restrictions.

    However, a strong JMS, coupled with progressive operational policies, would enhance current classification review practices by automatically identifying people whose positive behavior (for example, making steady progress towards the goals outlined in an Individual Success Plan) warrants reclassification consideration. This would automate the practice of rewarding people for positive efforts, reducing their restrictions and increasing their privileges.

    Establishing an automated system of graduated classifications and sanctions based on behavior will enhance population management and foster reentry readiness.

FISCAL IMPACT:

Physical Plant:

  • $95.2 million – Total Project Cost
    • $70.0 million – SB 844 Jail Funding Program
    • $22.0 million – Cash Match
      • $15.0 million General Fund Reserve (Unassigned)
      • $4.5 million Sheriff’s Plant Acquisition account (0111) (existing General Fund appropriation)
      • $2.5 million 2011 Local Revenue Fund (AB 109)
    • $3.2 million – In-Kind Match (Land Value, project oversight, transition planning, etc.)

Future Operating Costs (in 2017 dollars) ($5,058,738):

  • Detention Staffing ($2,152,104)
  • Rehabilitation and Reentry Services (Services to be provided by Community Based Organization via Request for Proposals) ($1,907,034)
  • Adult Education and Vocational Services (CCC Office of Education) ($241,600)
  • Psychiatric Services – CCC Detention Health ($750,000)

For all Board Packet Items and Documentation, click here. The Jail Expansion Discussion will take place Tuesday, February 7 at 9:00 am at 651 Pine Street in Martinez.

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4 comments

MK Ultra Feb 6, 2017 - 12:07 pm

Expand our prison system, expand surveillance programs, expand police unions, expand police weaponry, expand military influence worldwide, expand the symbiosis between technology and authoritarianism, expand the scope of police influence in daily life, expand the muscle of power…for that is the American way.

Lee Feb 6, 2017 - 1:23 pm

This looks like a good leveraging of our county money. We are getting a $95 million dollar facility for $25 million. Creating programs that get those that can be rehabilitated is also a financial benefit in my opinion.

Don Draper Feb 6, 2017 - 9:13 pm

Law enforcement should want LESS people behind bars because that means society is getting safer.

TFDEC Feb 7, 2017 - 10:34 am

We need a jail in Antioch more. If, not we need a dedicated thug transport system to Martinez. The time it takes to transport is police time off the beat.

Comments are closed.