Inmates at the San Benito County Jail get a math lesson from visiting Gavilan College professor, Larry Sweeney, during the GED class in this file photo.
The State of California Corrections Standards Authority gave San Benito County a conditional offer of $15 million to expand the local jail, Sheriff Curtis J. Hill recently announced.
"This is based on a number of criteria that had to be met in order to receive the award," said the sheriff. "I'm proud to say we've met all the requirements. It was a great effort by a number of folks working together."
According to Hill, the expansion will take the county jail from a 142-bed facility to 202, and will be linked with a 500-bed parolee reentry facility in Paso Robles that San Benito County will share with San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. Working with the state government for such a reentry facility was among the criteria necessary to qualify for the $15 million in matching funds.
That criteria, and a host of others, was met by only five counties classified as "small" by the state clearing the way for an 85 percent matching funds grant from the state for the expansion. The other 15 percent is handled through the county, and those monies have already been "secured and set aside," Hill told the Free Lance.
According to Susan Thompson, the state money is a grant made possible by AB900, a California bill that was overwhelmingly passed by the assembly and provides $7.5 billion in jail expansion funds.
Regarding the necessary local match of $2.6 million, Thompson said, "That is included in the County Capital Improvement Plan adopted by the board during the 2008-09 budget hearings.
"These funds are derived from the a Capital Reserve Fund developed several years ago with the monies received by the county as a result of the national Tobacco Settlement Agreement."
"This means two big things have happened," said Hill. "One is that we will work with the state to provide a better framework for the successful reentry for parolees in our community through the Paso Robles facility. The other is that we have obtained funding to expand our local jail, something that normally comes along only every 15 or 20 years."
Thompson echoed those statements, saying, "The major benefits to the citizens of San Benito County include the funding of additional jail capacity, which will serve our needs as our population continues to grow.
Thompson added that just as important is the idea that the reentry facility provides "emphasis on preparing inmates to return to our community with a better chance of success due to the new re-entry program."
Hill attributes the success to many local people and organizations.
"During this process, I have received tremendous support from the (San Benito County) Board of Supervisors, county administration and behavioral health to name just a few," he said.
Thompson agreed that this has been a countywide collective effort.
"My staff has worked very hard, specifically Janelle Cox, acting director of public works; Theresa Yee, capital projects manager for public works; Kathy Flores, director of the health and human services agency; and Alan Yamamoto, director of behavioral health all played an important role in this effort together with Sheriff Hill and his team."
Jeff Gatlin Jeff Gatlin is a staff writer at The Hollister Free Lance. You can call him at (831) 637-5566 or send him an email.
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