Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023 @ 4:09 p.m. / Infrastructure, Jail, Local Government
Del Norte Officials Unveil $9 Million Project Priority List for the Jail, Though It Only Has $3 Million To Spend
Del Norte County collaborated with a state representative and architects from Redding to come up with a list of priorities for needed renovations at the jail. | Image courtesy of Del Norte County
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Del Norte isn’t putting “lipstick on a pig” at the jail with the federal appropriations dollars they’re receiving courtesy of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Randy Hooper assured supervisors Tuesday.
The bones are good, the assistant county administrative officer said — coining a phrase District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey used. The $3.08 million will go toward upgrading the jail’s oldest wing along with its mental health treatment and visitation areas, he said.
But Hooper also outlined other crucial projects at the jail and said they are expected to cost an additional roughly $6 million to complete. Now, the assistant CAO said, a goal is to use the priority list he unveiled to discuss the county’s needs with potential funders.
“One of the big pieces whenever you have those conversations with your elected officials and with different agencies that could (provide) funding is what exactly do you need, and I don’t think anybody was in a position to really say until we started to do this work,” he said. “We had a vague notion that there were issues in the jail that existed, but what are they and how do you put a dollar figure on that until you provide some analysis.”
Hooper’s presentation was part of a public hearing Del Norte County was required to hold to receive the $3.08 million in Congressionally Designated spending. Included in the fiscal year 2022 omnibus spending bill, those dollars are being allocated to Del Norte County through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Community Facilities program.
The county has to “put together a project considered feasible” to the USDA by Sept. 30 or it could lose its federal appropriation, Hooper said.
In addition to conducting meetings with the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office, building maintenance and IT staff, county administration worked with consultants with the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC).
A BSCC representative from Sacramento toured the jail twice in addition to the inspections the agencies conducts on a bi-annual basis, Hooper said. Using that information the county hired Nichols, Melburg & Rosetto Architects and Engineers, of Redding, to put together its priority projects for the jail.
Hooper said the goal was not to put together a list of every upgrade the jail needed, but to come up with a roadmap of projects the county could take on. Previous conversations of work that needed to be done at the jail included $30-40 million in stated projects, but didn’t prioritize them or include formal cost estimates, Hooper told supervisors.
The first phase of the jail rehabilitation project, which will use the $3.1 million in federal funding, will include reorganizing Pods A-C into a more industry-standard dormitory layout, Hooper said. That wing of the jail was built in the 1960s and the BSCC representative who visited said it was an antiquated way of housing inmates.
This new layout would include new bunks, toilets, flooring, tables, lighting fixtures and removing the existing bars, Hooper said. There’s also the possibility of converting Pod C into a program room. The pods would also be painted, according to the project priority list.
In the mental health treatment area of the jail, upgrades will include ensuring the facility is compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act. The project also “seeks improvements for better mental health services.”
ADA compliance is also a priority for the visitation area as well as modifications to allow for better attorney-client privacy and to allow for better pass-through of documents to attorneys. Improved access to mental health services is also a priority for the visitation area.
District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson, who up until about eight years ago had been the county sheriff, said he was shocked to see the jail’s condition the last time he toured the facility. Though he was glad to see the project list, Wilson said his priorities are a bit different than his colleagues’.
Wilson said he’s more concerned about security in the jail’s intake and holding areas. When he toured the facility last, Wilson said he was shocked to find the booking doors secured with a hasp lock. Wilson said he would focus more on that area of the jail than on pods that aren’t housing inmates currently.
“When inmates are sick or are problematic, coming down from drugs, alcohol or whatever, and we have to monitor them constantly, we move them in those intake areas,” he said. “Their security is of the utmost importance and the condition they’re currently in, at least the last (time) I walked through there, is not safe or secure or usable.”
Wilson also suggested building a second “sobering cell” for those who may be suffering from a mental health crisis.
In addition to wanting to ensure Del Norte County wasn’t spending $3.1 million to put lipstick on a pig, Starkey asked about changes that will be made within the jail as a result of the new California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal (CalAIM) program. Previously, MediCal services would be cut off for inmates who are incarcerated and then reinstated when they are completely out of custody, Starkey told the Wild Rivers Outpost. Through CalAIM, an inmate goes through “re-entry services” 90 days before they’re released, she said.
Del Norte County has to implement this new model by March 2024.
“By March 2024, there’s going to be a social services unit within the jail and you’re going to have case plans and re-entry referrals that need to be made,” Starkey told the Outpost, adding that treatment will be offered for opioid addiction and inmates will have access to behavioral health services as well.
On Tuesday, Starkey mentioned the possibility that the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office has outgrown the space it currently shares with the jail.
“There’s not a classroom space, there’s not a teleconferencing room space so we can start getting them the mental health services they might need," Starkey told the Outpost, adding that the jail also lacks rooms for programs. "It’s that kind of area we need to start creating if we’re going to be in compliance with this CalAIM requirement.”
Starkey asked Hooper to keep in mind that space is needed at the jail to deliver the new services the state will require.
Del Norte County has four years to spend the $3.08 million federal appropriations dollars, according to Hooper. It has also had to conduct reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act due to the jail’s age.
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