County officials said the plan is a replacement rather than an expansion, with supervisors placing a heavy emphasis on prioritizing medical and mental healthcare, along with rehabilitation and reentry services. One of the priorities is to reduce the main jail\u2019s capacity by 1,011 beds, from 4,872 to 3,861, with the ultimate goal of eliminating an additional 404 beds once the project is completed.<\/p>\n
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Plans to overhaul Mail Jail North and Elmwood Correctional Facility will occur in phases over the next several years. File photo.<\/p>\n
Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, one of two current supervisors who sat on the board the last time the cost of a new jail was discussed in 2022, said the county cannot opt out of its duty to operate a jail.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe county is legally required to operate a jail, and with that comes a moral obligation to ensure every person in our custody is safe, treated humanely and given a real chance at rehabilitation,\u201d Ellenberg told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight.<\/p>\n
The board received a report from Deputy County Executive Consuelo Hernandez that outlined the jail facility transformation process. The cost has ballooned due to a lack of action, from $390 million in early 2022<\/a> to $689 million<\/a> to $747 million<\/a> by the end of 2022. The cost is now estimated to be between roughly $890 million to $1 billion.<\/p>\n That covers only the first three of eight phases the county has laid out over 15 years. The remaining five phases carry another $2.5 billion price tag, putting the full buildout cost at roughly $3.5 billion.<\/p>\n An estimated $392 million of the projected costs would be allocated toward the construction of new medical and mental health facilities at Elmwood, which would provide roughly 300 beds for people with behavioral health needs.<\/p>\n The county said Elmwood alone needs about $274 million in deferred maintenance over the next five years just to keep operating. The report also identified another $170 million in deferred maintenance at the main jail.<\/p>\n Residents remain strongly opposed to the decision, and want to see a stronger focus on preventive incarceration services instead of undergoing jail construction.<\/p>\n More than 50 people spoke during more than an hour of public comment at the meeting. Nearly all urged supervisors not to build. Raj Jayadev<\/a>, executive director of Silicon Valley De-Bug, which has fought county jail proposals since 2019, said calling the Elmwood project a mental health facility obscures what it is.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it is in a jail, it is a jail,\u201d Jayadev told San Jos\u00e9 Spotlight. \u201cIt\u2019s not like you\u2019re going to Good Samaritan. It\u2019s within the confines of a jail that has some features to it that are speaking to mental health needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Jayadev said splitting the program into phases makes the commitment look smaller than it is.<\/p>\n \u201cIt reduces the price tag, and I think it protects the culpability of the board,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t contradict the idea that this was one coherent plan. They just cut it up.\u201d<\/p>\n Indecision and delays\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first time the county has pitched mental health treatment as the centerpiece of its plans. Supervisors voted unanimously in 2020 to build a mental health facility instead of a new jail, then scrapped that plan in 2021 over concerns about timing and the county\u2019s obligations<\/a> under a pair of federal consent decrees<\/a>.<\/p>\n This time, supervisors also authorized the county to initiate the Phased Adult Jail Facility Investment Plan, the first concrete step toward construction in years.<\/p>\n Ellenberg acknowledged the opposition and said the county needs to do more to reduce poverty, fund alternatives to incarceration and prepare people in custody for reentry. But she said its obligation doesn\u2019t stop at the jail door.<\/p>\n \u201cToday is not about an either-or situation,\u201d Ellenberg said at the meeting. \u201cWe need to do everything we can to prevent people from entering the criminal legal system. When those investments are not successful, our obligation to care for people doesn\u2019t end when they are incarcerated.\u201d<\/p>\n Board President Otto Lee was also a supervisor when the jail proposal was last discussed in 2022. At Tuesday\u2019s meeting, he cited the importance of acknowledging the past tragedies that took place within the county\u2019s jails, highlighting the murder of Michael Tyree<\/a> \u2014 a mentally ill man beaten by three correctional officers in 2015 \u2014 as a prime example of the county needing to do more.<\/p>\n \u201cI have also wanted to have some sort of health facilities for those incarcerated. Michael Tyree was one of them, and I don\u2019t want that to happen ever again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n All three officers were later convicted of murder, and Tyree\u2019s death prompted a county investigation into the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot-2026-08-26-at-5.10.01-PM-1024x923.jpeg\")
A rendering of plans for new medical and mental health facilities at Elmwood, which would provide roughly 300 beds for people with behavioral health needs. Image courtesy of Santa Clara County.<\/p>\n
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