The Board of Supervisors approved a multi-million-dollar contract on Tuesday to expand the Santa Barbara County Main Jail’s Inmate Reception Center, and make the building compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The project will add onto the existing building and provide clinician spaces for health evaluations when people are booked into jail custody; interview spaces; bathrooms; and make the entire space ADA-compliant.
It’s related to the county’s stipulated judgment in a Disability Rights of California lawsuit that alleged dangerous and unconstitutional jail conditions.
The lawsuit and multiple Civil Grand Jury reports have identified inadequate medical and mental health evaluations during intake.
Several recent Grand Jury reports investigating in-custody deaths have pointed to bad communication and care in the intake process and between intake staff and the jail custody and healthcare staff.
The supervisors unanimously approved a $6-million construction contract with ProWest Contractors, but not before questioning staff about whether the project will address shortages of space for attorneys to meet with clients.
“How do we make it available so defenders, attorneys, can meet with their clients, one of our main strategies to reduce the jail population and assure people their rights?” Supervisor Joan Hartmann asked.
There will be additional confidential meeting rooms after the renovation, which can be used for medical evaluations or attorney meetings, said Chief Deputy Ryan Sullivan of the Sheriff’s Office.
There is one in each housing unit, which is about one for every 30 people in custody, he said. That “proves adequate access in our view,” he said.
The Sheriff’s Office is collaborating with the Public Defender’s Office to implement the READY program at the Main Jail, which provides people with early access to lawyers to potentially reduce the amount of time they remain in custody.
READY — the Reentry, Early Access, and Diversion for You program — is operated at the Northern Branch Jail and has reduced the population by 14 people already, according to the Probation Department.
Expanding the program to the Main Jail is expected to reduce the daily average population there by 10 people.
Adding attorney meeting rooms was not specifically in the IRC project design, but there are meeting spaces in the Northern Branch Jail and expansion plans for that facility, General Services Director Kirk Lagerquist said.
“So IRC short term, and then inmates are transported to the Northern Branch Jail, at which point they can meet with their lawyers and such,” Lagerquist said.
The renovation project will also bring medical intake inside the building from a dilapidated trailer where it’s been occurring, Lagerquist said.
The project has a “tight timeline” to be finished by April 2027, to meet requirements from the Disability Rights of California lawsuit, he said.
Construction will begin “immediately” after the contract is approved, department staff said.
This project was designed with input from the Sheriff’s Office and has a total budget of $10 million including construction, project management and furniture.
The Sheriff’s Office calls the facility the Inmate Reception Center, and the General Services staff report refers to it as the Intake and Reception Center, both using the abbreviation of IRC.
It is the main booking facility for people arrested in Southern Santa Barbara County. Before being booked into jail custody, people receive a medical and mental health screening, and classification interviews to determine what kind of jail housing they will get, Sheriff’s Office representatives said.
The IRC is also where incarcerated people’s property is held, and where people are processed for release from the Main Jail, they said.
Jail Renovation and Expansion Plans
The IRC project comes as the county develops plans to significantly expand the new Northern Branch Jail near Santa Maria and renovate portions of the much older Main Jail near Santa Barbara.
The supervisors determined it would be cheaper, and make more sense, to reduce the capacity of the southern facility and add onto the newer buildings.
The Northern Branch Jail opened in 2022 and has 376 beds. The supervisors approved a preliminary plan to add 384 beds to that facility, although the designs are still being developed.
The county would then reduce the Main Jail capacity to 116 people.
Criminal-justice reform advocates argue for the county to pursue a smaller expansion and commit to more diversion programs to keep low-level offenders out of custody.