California picks 12 counties to share $750 million in jail funds

Twelve California counties, including Yolo, are in line to receive a combined $750 million in jail construction funds under recommendations released Thursday by the state Corrections Standards Authority.

To qualify for the jail money authorized by lawmakers last year, the counties had to agree to site new "re-entry" prisons designed to improve rehabilitation programs and smooth short-term inmates' transition home.

The legislation, Assembly Bill 900, contained the jail money to stanch the early releases of tens of thousands of offenders every year from the overcrowded county systems, many of which are operating under court-ordered prisoner population caps.

If the standards board finalizes Thursday's recommendations in September, they will help fund 10,326 new jail beds in the state.

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials will oversee the jail applications over the next three months to make sure the counties meet siting requirements on the re-entry prisons.

"It's critical to the intent of AB 900 to deliver the re-entry facilities," Jim Tilton, corrections secretary and standards board chairman, said Thursday.

Some counties have complications in their applications, corrections construction chief Deborah Hysen told the standards board. Among them: failure to get cities to sign off on the mini-prisons in their boundaries.

Orange County, for one, was approved Thursday for $100 million in jail money. It has listed its re-entry site as an existing jail in the city of Orange. The Orange City Council, however, approved a resolution in March opposing the re-entry prison.

"We're still working on it," Orange County Assistant Sheriff Charlie Waters said Thursday.

Yolo County stands to receive $30 million, enough to add space for 157 jail beds.

Yolo authorities initially had intended to build a 150-bed re-entry facility in Woodland. Sheriff Ed Prieto said Thursday that state officials are now looking at a larger site, possibly near Dunnigan, for a bigger facility that might include inmates from neighboring counties, including Sacramento.

Prieto said evaluators from the corrections agency "felt our 3 acres may not be quite big enough. They asked if we could move to another facility in Yolo County."

The state wants to build a mini-prison in Yolo County with 250 to 300 beds, he said.

"We're willing to negotiate," Prieto said.

Along with Yolo, the standards board recommended San Joaquin County for $80 million, enough to pay for 1,280 jail beds.

Counties also are kicking in some money. Yolo's contribution will be about $15 million, according to Prieto. The state money is coming out of the $7.9 billion included in AB 900.

El Dorado, Placer and Sutter counties applied for jail funds but have not identified sites for mini-prisons and didn't make the initial recommendation list.

The other counties approved for jails include San Bernardino, Kern and San Diego ($100 million each), Monterey ($80 million), Santa Barbara ($56.3 million), Los Angeles ($33.8 million), Kings and Madera ($30 million each) and Calaveras ($10 million).

Los Angeles still does not have a re-entry site and could get knocked off the list if it doesn't come up with one by September, corrections officials said.

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• Call Andy Furillo, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 321-1141.