Go inside Sacramento County’s jails – past and present – with historic photos
By Nathaniel Levine
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The dangers of Sacramento County Main Jail
The Sacramento County Main Jail is like a hub of trouble, with mistreated inmates inside who, when released, sentence downtown streets to danger.
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Sacramento County’s jail has always been located in downtown Sacramento, close to courts and the offices of attorneys involved in criminal law.
The mail jail is designed to hold 1,250 — but had 1,854 occupants in September — and serves as the main intake facility in Sacramento County. More inmates are housed at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Facility south of Elk Grove.
Modern tours of jails are infrequent because of concerns about security, privacy, COVID and other factors. Tours that have occurred have been conducted under strict ground rules.
Here’s what we can show you of the current jail and its predecessor.
The old jail on H Street
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Jail stands at 620 H Street in 1984. The building was demolished after the new jail was built. Morgan Ong Sacramento Bee file
This cell, which has 16 bunks, but 21 prisoners sharing it in 1988 as they await their trials, is typical of the problem in the Sacramento County Jail. The jail usually holds more than 900 prisoners a day despite a federal court order setting the maximum of 755. Frank Stork Sacramento Bee file
An inmate sleeps on the floor of the cell in the Sacramento County jail in 1978. Leo Neibour Sacramento Bee file
A man cleans a cell in the old jail on May 16, 1989. Randy Pench Sacramento Bee file
Sheriff’s deputy Brian Arbuckle, left, sits in the master control room of the Sacramento County jail with Sheriff Duane Lowe, center, and Capt. Braxton Bonner, right, on Jan. 26, 1978. Leo Neibour Sacramento Bee file
The women’s section of the Sacramento County jail on April 16, 1978. Leo Neibour Sacramento Bee file
Sacramento Sheriff Robbie Waters, left, tests the foosball table during a tour of the jail at 620 H Street on Jan. 26, 1983. Morgan Ong Sacramento Bee file
Sheriff’s Sgt. Ed Flint, a jail supervisor who directed the investigation into the attempted breakout, shows a hole on May 11, 1987, that was partially made into a wall which would lead to the outside from the 20-by-20-foot cell that housed 10 inmates. Charges for the six inmates involved include attempted escape and conspiracy. Dick Schmidt Sacramento Bee file
Construction of the Sacramento County Main Jail
A model shows the planned layout of a floor of the proposed new county jail in April 1981. Michael Williamson Sacramento Bee file
Greg Peterson, an office engineer with Bechtel Inc., overlooks the construction of Sacramento’s new county jail at 7th and I streets. It is modeled after a “new generation” jail in Contra Costa County that uses no bars. The building is 19% complete; it is scheduled to open in 1989. Frank Stork Sacramento Bee file
Sacramento Sheriff Robbie Waters stands at the construction site of the new jail on I Street between Sixth and Seventh streets on Nov. 7, 1985. The old jail is visible in the background. Leilani Hu Sacramento Bee file
A media tour for the opening of the new Sacramento County Main Jail show a pod of cells, which have a common exercise area and dining area/day room, on Jan. 10, 1989. Jay Mather Sacramento Bee file
The visiting area, which will use hard plexiglass windows to separate inmates, awaits inmates during a media tour of the new Sacramento County Main Jail on Jan. 10, 1989, ahead of a planned April 1 opening. Jay Mather Sacramento Bee file
A painting of the late Sacramento Municipal Court Judge Lorenzo Patino brought his presence to ceremonies Monday, March 6, 1989, as a sign with his name was unveiled at the county’s recent dedicated new main jail, the Lorenzo E. Patino Hall of Justice. Nelly Patino and Lorenzo Jr., 7, the widow and son of the late judge, who died of leukemia in 1983, are seated at right. Skip Shuman Sacramento Bee file
Cosumnes Correctional Facility
Inmates at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove move bunks to the old recreation hall, which will soon hold up to 80 prisoners, in 1988. A total of up to 200 prisoners from the main jail will be housed at the Elk Grover branch. Owen Brewer Sacramento Bee file
A view from the tower at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center shows the facility’s newly converted secure area, designed to support the transfer of prisoners from the overcrowded downtown jail before the new jail opens, on July 25, 1988. Owen Brewer Sacramento Bee file
A man sits on his bed at Rio Cosumnes Correction Center in 2004. Lezlie Sterling Sacramento Bee file
An inmate hands out supplies inside a dorm at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Sacramento County in 2009. Brian Baer Sacramento Bee file
Officer Lawrence Ortiz stands watch in the control room at the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Sacramento County on March 23, 2009. Brian Baer Sacramento Bee file
Capt. Tim Sheehan walks inside the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Sacramento County in 2009. Brian Baer Sacramento Bee file
The Main Jail since 2000
Then-Capt. Jim Cooper, jail commander, checks the roster along a row of segregation cells in the Main Jail’s booking area in 2002. Dick Schmidt Sacramento Bee file
The interior of a typical inmate cell shown during a media tour of the Sacramento County Main Jail on Aug. 7, 2002. Dick Schmidt Sacramento Bee file
A security mirror reflects an interior area of the Sacramento County Mail Jail in 2002. Dick Schmidt Sacramento Bee file
Then-Sheriff’s Lt. Scott Jones stands in the Sacramento County Main Jail in 2007, before he was promoted to Commander of the Main Jail Division by new Sacramento Sheriff John McGinness. Jones had served as a deputy in the jail for the past nine years. Lezlie Sterling Sacramento Bee file
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Reeve searches an arrested man before processing him into the Sacramento County Main Jail in 2009. Carl Costas Sacramento Bee file
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Sgt. Greg Coauette checks on inmates inside the sobering cell at the Sacramento Main Jail on April 30, 2009. Inmates are placed in the “drunk tank” until they are sober enough to be released or transferred to a different area of the jail. Andy Alfaro Sacramento Bee file
An inmate stands inside the sobering cell at the Sacramento Main Jail on April 30, 2009. Inmates are placed in the “drunk tank” until they are sober enough to be release or transferred to a different area of the jail. Andy Alfaro Sacramento Bee file
Inmates sober up inside the sobering cell at the Sacramento Main Jail Thursday in 2009. Inmates are placed in the “drunk tank” until they are sober enough to be released or transferred to a different area of the jail. Andy Alfaro Sacramento Bee file
Fish swim in 2010 in a huge tank installed with the intention of calming visitors in the entry of the Sacramento County Main Jail. Renee C. Byer Sacramento Bee file
Fish swim in a huge tank in 2010 installed with the intention of calming visitors in the entry of the Sacramento County Main Jail. Renee C. Byer Sacramento Bee file
Sheriff’s deputy Matt Carpenter works security at the Sacramento County Main Jail on Feb. 23, 2010. Renee C. Byer Sacramento Bee file
Sheriff’s deputy Matt Carpenter checks the ID of visitors while working security at the Sacramento County Main Jail on 2010. Renee C. Byer Sacramento Bee file
Sheriff’s deputies Tom Harrison, left, and Matt Carpenter, right, work the security windows at the Sacramento County Main Jail in 2010. Renee C. Byer Sacramento Bee file
More recent years
While the Bee’s photography staff has not been beyond the visiting area or the jail’s courtrooms in a number of years (invitations are always welcome), there have been glimpses into the facility through court documents and the recent Netflix series “Jailbirds.”
A sequence of images from video footage obtained by Sacramento attorney Mark Merin shows the incident where Mayco Rodrique’s arm was broken as he was being booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail in 2017. Clockwise from top left: Rodrique seems to smile and joke with officers just before the incident; the deputy sheriff breaks his arm; Rodrique is then taken – arms restrained – to the booking photograph station; Rodrique clutches his arm after being placed in a holding cell. Merin filed a federal civil rights suit over the incident, which the sheriff’s office says was settled for $97,500 from the county, which admitted no wrongdoing. Sacramento County Sheriff's Department
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
