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On Tuesday morning, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved plans for a $29 million jail expansion project — the future site of an adult inmate rehabilitation center — and put the project out for bids.

Years in development, the four-story, 28,500-square-foot building, dubbed a “Community Corrections Re-Entry Resource Center,” will house a minimum-security, 44-bed custody unit offering programs aimed at preparing inmates to re-enter society.

The resource center is intended to free up space in the jail for higher-security inmates who, prior to California’s Criminal Justice Realignment legislation, AB 109 and AB 117, would have been sent to prison but are instead sentenced to terms inside the county jail, often long ones. For example, one recent convict could be sentenced to 18 years in the county facility.

Sheriff Billy Honsal told the board that during the seven years that this project has been in development, the projected cost ballooned from $20 million to $28,963,516. 

The state is providing the majority of that funding with $20 million in reimbursement money for architectural design, construction and management fees. The remaining bill of $8,963,516 falls to the county, including $3.85 million previously approved by the Community Corrections Partnership Executive Committee.

However, the county is still more than $1 million short of covering the projected cost. The extra funds are available via the 2020 finance plan, according to a staff report, though staff wants to hold off on a specific budget request until after the bids come in “due to the current volatile nature of construction costs.”

Honsal said the new facility will streamline the process for inmates being released from jail. Currently they’re instructed to head over to the Probation Department’s “day reporting center,” at 404 H Street, though they don’t always follow through. 

“Sometimes they’ll go right there; sometimes they exit and go the opposite direction,” Honsal said. With the new facility, inmates can check in at the reporting center before even leaving the property. The Department of Health and Human Services will also have personnel onsite.

“We hope that that will encourage people to stick with the programs and we’re going to see less recidivism,” Honsal said.

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn, appearing remotely, said the resource center will have space for job fairs and mental health services.

“It’s a huge project and it’s kind of exciting to actually see this come to fruition,” he said.

Second District Supervisor Michelle Bushnell, who also Zoomed in remotely, offered Honsal congratulations on reaching this step, but she had some questions about the financing, which includes $30,000 from the general fund, more than $3 million from the 2020 finance plan and nearly $4.5 million from the Community Corrections Partnership.

Honsal noted that the county is currently paying more than $100,000 per year to rent 404 H Street, which will be abandoned once this facility is complete, and while not all of the fiscal details have been worked out yet, Honsal said the new facility will be “essentially a state building for 20 years,” after which it will belong to the county.

“So we will have a … $30 million building and it’ll be the county’s building entirety, so I think this is money well spent.”

The existing day reporting center and the Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program (SWAP) would move into the new facility to provide expanded “out-of-custody re-entry programming,” such as mental health and substance abuse services.

Bushnell said she was concerned about the increased staffing costs. The county is estimating that the new facility will require 20 more full-time employees, including 15 correctional deputies and five senior correctional deputies, to cover the resource center’s 24/7 operations. That’s expected to cost $2,376,600 per year, based on the current year’s budget, and those costs will continue indefinitely into future years. 

“I just want to clarify if you could,” Bushnell said. “The hit to [the] general fund over certain amounts of years will be around $9 million. Is that correct?”

“I’m not sure,” Honsal replied.

County Administrative Officer Elishia Hayes stepped in to say that Honsal understands the county’s current “financial constraints” and has developed a “contingency plan where he can repurpose some of his current staffing levels if so required.”

Third District Supervisor Mike Wilson observed that this is the county’s third significant new facility in a row, after the juvenile hall and the animal shelter, to be built for incarceration or “incarceration-adjacent” purposes. The county needs to “do better” and broaden its vision for new facilities and the purposes they serve, he said.

Honsal said he agrees but also feels it’s important to take advantage of state grant money when it’s offered, as it was for both the juvenile hall and the jail expansion. 

Wilson pushed back a bit, saying state grants shouldn’t absolve the county of “the lack of vision” to pursue bonds, grants and other sources of financing for facilities that serve purposes beyond locking people (or animals) up.

Fourth District Supervisor Natalie Arroyo said she’s “a little anxious” about the 20 new Sheriff’s Office positions up for approval, as well as estimated funding shortfall. 

“It sounds like the funds are available in the 2020 finance plan which can be financed … as long-term debt, but if it goes over that [projected amount], what are our options if it’s significantly more?” Arroyo asked.

“We would need to return to your board to have a bigger conversation about that,” Hayes replied.

There was some debate among the board about whether this project should technically be considered a jail expansion. Arroyo said that while she has always heard it described as a jail expansion, “My understanding from what [Honsal is] saying and from all of what I’ve read is that this is really about a step-down [facility] or an alternative way of handling certain people who could reintegrate into society differently.”

Honsal said she is correct and that the minimum-security facility will offer program space for “low-lying offenders” while they’re in custody. 

Bohn theorized that the “misnomer” of “jail expansion” came from the facility being connected to the jail. He also quibbled with Wilson’s description of the animal shelter as an incarceration facility and said he hopes the new resource center reduces recidivism. 

The group discussion diverged from that point, but Wilson later returned to the semantics debate. 

“This is an expansion of a jail, even though we don’t call it that,” he said. “I mean, we just talked about how it creates more beds. … There’s more people that will be incarcerated. It’s just something we need to think about.”

The jail, which has been described as the county’s ugliest building, is also its largest, and Wilson said county leaders should consider “the imprint on our society with relationship to these structures and what it says about ourselves, and where we set our priorities.” That said, he added that he supports moving forward.

Fifth District Supervisor and Board Chair Steve Madrone said he thinks it’s great that the county will have a facility designed to help people move back into society. 

“I’m glad to see that the state started to provide a little bit of money along with all the prisoners they’ve been sending us,” he said. “That’s long overdue.”

Connie Beck, director of the Department of Health and Human Services, agreed, saying this facility was needed a decade ago.

“This is really going to help DHHS staff to work better and engage more people coming out of the jail,” Beck said.

Shaun Brenneman, the county’s chief probation officer, said the county has been lacking the necessary space for programs that can help people to improve their lives. 

“The thing I like to think about is, there should be no wasted days in custody,” he said. “You should always be working forward to coming back into the community, to make yourself a more successful version of yourself. We don’t have the space for those people to really do that right now, and so this [facility] will allow our reentry programs to be enhanced.”

Emi Botzler-Rodgers, the county’s director of behavioral health, said her staff is currently working with inmates while they’re in the jail, which is not an ideal setting for people who may have serious mental health issues. 

“I think this new facility would allow for an expansion, sure, but also just more humane and treatment-oriented opportunities,” she said, adding that it will be easier to coordinate with other providers on a release plan that allows for better connection to social services.

Arroyo asked whether the new facility will have space and support for inmates undergoing drug and/or alcohol detox. Honsal said there’s a medical facility inside the current jail and the 44 new beds can be configured however the county best sees fit, including focusing on mental health and detox.

“You know, when it comes to the jail, I often refer to it as ‘the gift of jail,’” Honsal said, “because … some people need that 30 days in custody in order to get sober-minded, to get back on their mental health meds, to get away from the drugs so they can be clear-headed to make a decision about what’s best for their future.”

Bushnell made the motion to approve the plans and put the project out for bids. Bohn seconded. The vote was unanimous. The county hopes to break ground on the project later this year, and if all goes to plan the facility will be built by 2025.