Detention Facilities in Santa Barbara County

Recommendations 6

• R1
  That the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department add an external security camera monitoring system.
• R2
  That the Sheriff consider making space available for face-to-face personal visits at the Northern Branch Jail.
• R3
  That the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors allocate sufficient funding to the Sheriff’s office specifically for the purpose of hiring additional custody deputies.
• R4
  That the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and the Sheriff’s Department purchase and install a body scanning system immediately to intercept contraband at the Main Jail.
• R5
  That the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department review camera coverage to make sure that each camera is providing the custody deputies full views of the cells.
• R6
  That the Board of Supervisors and Sheriff consider funding for upgrade and replacement of the inmate transportation fleet within two years. 1.2 Santa Barbara County Northern Branch Jail The Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria is being built to alleviate the overcrowding of the Main Jail as well as improving transportation efficiency. The Northern Branch Jail is an improvement in the County’s detention space, and the extra 376 beds should reduce the County’s current inmate overcrowding. A staff of 90 custody deputies will monitor the inmates. It will provide an environment that addresses safety, promotes ADA compliance, and also provides enhanced medical and mental health facilities. Construction of the new Jail was approved by the Board of Supervisors in June 2016. The Jail was originally scheduled to open in September 2018. At the time of this report the construction completion date was estimated to be May 2020, a 20-month delay. This significant delay was due to a combination of factors including a delay in the signing of the earth-moving contract, unusually wet weather, design and regulatory changes, the bankruptcy of the lead architectural firm, delays in contractor work execution, and quality deficiencies. Inmate occupancy must take place of the facility opening. The facility is currently planned to accommodate 376 rated beds with a staff of 90 custody deputies. Once occupied, this additional inmate capacity should ease the Main Jail overcrowding problem. The construction costs for the Northern Branch Jail were originally budgeted at $67 million on March 31, 2016. Amoroso Construction was awarded the winning bid of $77,720,000 on April 7, 2016.1 In June 2016, the Board of Supervisors approved the current budget of $110,857,243, to be offset with $80.0 million from the State of California. Due to project delays, unanticipated change orders, and other issues, “the final total costs of the project are now estimated to increase from the original amount of $110.8 million to a total ranging between $119.0 million and $121.0 million, which is an increase of $8.2 million to $10.2 million or 7% to 9% increase in overall project costs.”2 1 Kitchell – Construction Management and Commissioning, Northern Branch Jail Project - Bid Package 1, April 7, 2016 2 Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors Agenda, March 17, 2020, D1) Hearing - Consider recommendations regarding Northern Branch Jail (NBJ) Construction Costs, In May 2013, Rosser International, Inc. (Rosser) entered into a Professional Services Agreement with the County to provide architectural, engineering and related professional design services for the Northern Branch Jail Project. In June 2019, Rosser informed the County that it was going out of business, stopped working on the project, and ceased all performance of its contracted duties for the Northern Branch Jail Project. In July 2019, the County filed cost recovery litigation against Rosser to recover or mitigate the related added project costs. Overall, the Grand Jury found the facility to be impressive, with a modern architectural plan taking advantage of current technologies. The Northern Branch Jail is designed with thermal and recycled water efficiencies. While the new Jail has adequate backup plans in the event of power failures, the facility does not have a solar system that could provide longer-term coverage and cost savings. The building is designed to help normalize social relations by direct supervision. A custody deputy will be in the housing unit with the inmates. The deputy can model positive behavior and intervene quickly and effectively if there is trouble. The Jury noted that the exercise facilities for cell modules were limited in size. Considering the potentially long sentences for some inmates, these small enclosures are inadequate. The inmate entrance to the facility will have a body scanner system capability planned to reduce contraband. Personal visitations will be performed exclusively via video screens from booths. There will be larger rooms available for a family unification process planned to prepare inmates for reentry into society once sentences are completed. When inmate sentences are completed and they are released, there is no transportation available to a Santa Maria city center location, which is more than ten miles away. This is important considering the 24-hour release schedule and the distance from the Northern Branch Jail to the Santa Maria city center. The Sheriff’s Office liaison, County General Services managers, and escort custody deputies were enthusiastic, well-informed, courteous, professional and optimistic about the positive impact this new state-of-the-art facility will make for the County.