Sacramento County approves $450 million construction plan to modify jail facilities

California Construction News staff writer

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors has approved a plan aimed at addressing inadequate jail facilities with hundreds of millions of dollars in new construction projects and by reducing the daily inmate population.

Faced with needing a plan for remedying physical plant deficiencies that impede Consent Decree implementation, the County retained Nacht and Lewis to build on previous studies as well as the population reduction strategies and concluded the county “could not reasonably release enough inmates to achieve compliance with the Consent Decree through population reduction efforts alone.”

The board approved a $450 million staff recommendation on Dec. 8, to:

• build an intake and health services facility on the main jail’s Bark Lot
• construct a new booking loop, medical clinic and medical housing along with housing units for patients who need higher levels of mental health care, according to county analysis.

Design and construction are estimated to take five years.

Also approved:

• construct two control rooms at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center to “provide higher-level security monitoring” for barracks C, D, G and H – a$5.7 million project would allow transfers of inmates who are now being held in a section of the third floor of the main jail
• conversion of an acute psychiatric unit at an estimated $8.4 million cost

Both projects are estimated to take 32 months.

On Thursday, the board also directed staff to continue 33 jail population reduction plans aimed at reducing the average daily population of the jail system by anywhere from 600 to 700 people.

The county plans to have updated cost estimates for all the actions at a spring meeting.