Tulare County is one step closer to receiving $40 million in state
funds to replace the existing Men*s Correctional Facility and Day
Reporting Center located north of Visalia.
A committee of the Board of State and Community Corrections recommended
today to allocate $500 million to 15 counties for upgrading local jails
to include rehabilitative program space that meets Gov. Jerry Brown*s
prison and public safety realignment goals. The recommendations will be
considered at the Board of State and Community Corrections meeting on
Jan. 16, 2014 in Los Angeles.
*This is very exciting news for Tulare County,* said Pete Vander
Poel, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. *This is a facility that
is certainly needed due to the influx of state prisoners as a result of
realignment. I would like to commend the Tulare County team that put
together the application that will ultimately meet a very important
need.*
Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said the recommendation is
extremely good news for his department.
“I am so pleased with the positive collaborative effort from all of the
County partners that made this proposal viable,* Sheriff Boudreaux
said. *The future of this department and the County as a whole
requires us to actively seek opportunities such as this to improve the
infrastructure of our Detention Facilities. Our team has been diligently
working on this project, making several trips to Sacramento. I am
excited for the project and for the future of our department.”
If the recommendation is approved, the funding would pay for 90 percent
of construction and related expenses for the project. The program
requires Tulare County to pledge 10 percent, or $4.4 million, of the
project amount in matching funds from cash or in-kind sources.
The project would replace existing facilities with at 384-bed jail, day
reporting center, vocational center, and program space in Visalia.
Features of the project include a jail that will house the jail in small
groups; several classrooms dedicated to educational, cognitive
behavioral therapy, and vocational instruction; and a small number of
administrative segregation cells.
Application Process (Read the announcement made today by Board of State
and Community Corrections:
http://www.bscc.ca.gov/board/
According to the Board of State and Community Corrections, 36 counties
submitted requests for funding that were ranked according to how closely
they met the requirements of AB 109*s landmark reform mandate to house
and rehabilitate non-serious, non-violent, non-sexual offenders in their
home communities. Realignment seeks to improve rehabilitation results by
keeping offenders close to families and support systems. It includes
constitutionally guaranteed funding for proven programs that support
offenders* successful transition back into the community.
Under realignment, the state is investing hundreds millions of dollars
in local rehabilitation and crime-prevention programs to continue to
improve public safety in our communities. The impact of these
investments will be measured over years as the programs develop.
The construction funding is a result of SB 1022, which provided for the
issuance of lease revenue bonds to help finance the jail modifications
needed to accommodate offenders who otherwise would have been sent to
state prisons.
Many jails do not have classroom space for training and rehabilitation
programs. SB 1022 specified that counties would be considered that are
seeking to replace or upgrade outdated facilities and provide
alternatives to incarceration, including mental health and substance
treatment.
Construction projects deemed most ready to begin were more heavily
weighted. Counties also were required to show they have set aside a
minimum of 10 percent of the total project costs.
The proposed allocations announced today were decided by a BSCC
executive steering committee following presentations in Sacramento Dec.
4-5. The recommendations will be considered at the Board of State and
Community Corrections meeting Jan. 16, 2014 in Los Angeles.
The BSCC was established by 2012 legislation to serve as an independent
body providing realignment leadership and technical assistance to the
adult and juvenile criminal justice systems.
