18 jailed in Sacramento County for code violations tied to homelessness, records show
Eighteen individuals were booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail on charges related to being homeless over a period of four and a half weeks, an analysis of recent booking data shows. Of those people, 12 went to jail on a “fresh arrest,” with no prior warrant issued.
These 18 people collectively spent more than 370 hours — more than 15 days — behind bars. About 80% of them were arrested under Sacramento City Code.
Using the average daily cost of housing a person in one of Sacramento County’s jails — the Main Jail downtown and the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center near Elk Grove — jailing those 20 people for camping cost taxpayers about $3,100. That cost does not include any medical care or any periods that the unhoused people spent in police custody before being booked into jail. According to the records, those periods usually lasted several hours.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office released jail booking records from March 9 through April 7 in response to a Public Records Act request. The records show that in those weeks, a total of 37 individuals were booked on charges that included at least one related to “camping” or storing personal property in public. Of the total, 19 people faced other charges at booking, mostly related to the possession of drugs or drug paraphernalia. (In one instance, a man who remains in custody was only booked on camping-related charges during his most recent arrest but had a separate warrant for robbery.)
Two of the 37 who were jailed were booked on charges only for camping and resisting or delaying an officer.
Most of the people who were arrested solely on camping-related charges spent relatively little time behind bars. The shortest stint, looking at the stated booking and release times, was 46 minutes; the median time was about four and a half hours.
But some people were locked up for longer. One 38-year-old woman spent four days in jail on a fresh arrest. The only charges listed in the documents were unlawful camping on public property, unlawful storage of personal or camping items on public property and obstructing a sidewalk. She was jailed under Sacramento City Code.
Another person — a 37-year-old man — also spent four days in jail on a fresh arrest. His only charges were unlawful camping on public property, unlawful storage of personal or camping items on private property, unlawful storage of personal or camping items on public property and obstructing a sidewalk. Like the 38-year-old woman, he was jailed under municipal code.
Previous reporting by The Sacramento Bee found that 30% of jail bookings involve a homeless person. The director of the Sacramento County Department of Health Services, Timothy Lutz, said that homeless people become caught in a costly “cycle of recidivism.” The health department will soon stand up a program to intercept the unhoused as they exit the Main Jail and the RCCC and offer them services and shelter.
Many incarcerated homeless people, Lutz said, end up in jail on low-level charges, including minor alleged drug offenses like the circumstances reflected in this set of booking records. Lutz said living outside increases the chance that a person will interact with a law enforcement officer, which increases the chance that an arrest will occur. He also said that many homeless people use drugs to stay alert while living outdoors.
Another dataset shows that the people arrested solely for camping make up a small subset of the total homeless arrests.
Lutz’s department released data to The Bee showing that in March of this year, 809 individuals booked into the jail screened as homeless. A significant minority need mental health services in addition to stable housing. Of the people identified as homeless, 20% were formally diagnosed with a serious mental illness: schizophrenia spectrum or other psychotic disorders, borderline personality disorder, PTSD, major depressive disorder or bipolar and related disorders.
This story was originally published May 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
