Sonoma County secures $40 million for new wing at jail

Sonoma County is poised to build a behavioral health wing of the jail for mentally ill inmates with the state’s approval this week of a $40 million grant that would cover the bulk of the cost to design and construct the facility.

The proposed $49 million, 72-bed jail wing could open in 2020 and provide an improved slate of substance abuse and mental health treatment services for inmates as well as an environment specially designed to promote social and therapeutic interactions.

County supervisors must vote to accept the state funds, which would signal the county is committed to spending an estimated $5.8 million each year to operate the facility. The expenditure would represent a 9 percent increase over the Sheriff’s Office’s current budget for the detention division.

“We would not have applied for the $40 million grant to build the facility if we weren’t committed to keeping it open,” Board Chairwoman Susan Gorin said. “There’s a strong correlation with those in the criminal justice system and those with behavioral health issues. It’s a win-win for all of us.”

Sonoma County was one of 15 counties that were awarded a total of $500 million set aside by the Legislature last year for counties seeking to improve and replace aging jails. Counties applied for the money in August and the Board of State and Community Corrections announced the awards Thursday at a meeting in Sacramento.

The cost of design and construction of Sonoma County’s new jail wing would come from the $40 million state award as well as $6.2 million in county tobacco tax funds and other local sources.

The cost of operating the behavioral health jail unit could be offset by the closure of a wing at the lower-security North County Detention Center, reducing the annual cost to $4.9 million a year.

The 33,000-square-foot facility would have 48 cells, half of which will be double occupancy, all with windows providing natural light. The facility will have 38 full-time employees.

Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane, the board’s criminal justice liaison, said that the award is emblematic of a movement to address the mental health and substance abuse problems that are increasingly prevalent in inmate populations. She said the board is committed to spending the money needed to run the facility.

“It is worth every penny and I actually think it’s going to save us money in the long run,” Zane said.

The county has experienced a 400 percent increase in inmates diagnosed with mental illness since the jail opened in 1991, according to a report presented to the board.

And while a county analysis found the jail needed no new beds, officials said that its layout does not serve inmates needing mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Mike Kennedy, the county’s behavioral health director who helped develop the proposal, said that the new facility would also be a commitment by the county to provide more and better services for inmates with mental health issues and a history of substance abuse.

“We need to be clear: We’re not saying we want more mentally ill folks in the jail, that’s not what this is about,” Kennedy said. “It’s about an improved environment and more programming for those folks who are already in the criminal justice system that have mental health problems.”

He said that the health services department would provide 16 hours of programs each day for people housed in the new behavioral health unit.

The proposed wing is years away from becoming reality.

The earliest construction could begin is 2019, said Mary Booher, a county administrative analyst working on the plan.

First, the supervisors must vote to accept the funding, and then staff must present the board with a fully developed plan for the facility’s finances and staffing, Booher said.

Currently, the main jail in Santa Rosa has three specialized units for people with mental and behavioral issues, including those deemed incompetent to stand trial and awaiting beds at Napa State Hospital. People with less-acute behavioral issues are, for the most part, housed in the general population.

Kennedy described cases in which health staff in the jail must speak to inmates through cell doors because there is no other place to talk.

“It’s not the best way to do treatment,” Kennedy said.

About 14 percent of the jail’s 1,123 inmates have acute mental illness and 38 percent have some level of mental health problems, said Assistant Sheriff Randall Walker, who runs the jail. Walker was in Sacramento on Thursday for the grant presentation.

“Our mental health population is extremely high - nearly 40 percent of our population has some involvement with mental health,” Walker said. “Having the proper space to do treatment and proper programming is important.”

Walker said that the increase in the mentally ill inmate population is in part due to a better understanding of mental illness and improved methods of assessing people when they enter the jail.

Walker said the Sheriff’s Office wants to better serve inmates with mental illness in ways that might help prevent people from being arrested again, and the new wing would help them do that.

“We want to do the best for every aspect of the population,” Walker said.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.