Since 1986, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s office has been under court order to release jail inmates early because of overcrowding, and year after year the Grand Jury has emphasized the need for a new North County jail. On a recent day in October, the jail’s population was 903 people. Capacity is 788.
And since 2008, Sheriff Bill Brown has released roughly 5,500 inmates early from the Goleta facility, which was built in 1971. Of that number, 289 have re-offended and been re-incarcerated. Three years ago, Brown secured $56.3 million for a new 304-bed jail through state funding via Assembly Bill 900. Under the award’s terms, the county would have to put up $26.7 million. To do that, Brown went to the voters in 2010, who overwhelmingly rejected a half-percent sales tax that would’ve paid not only for the construction but also the ongoing operation of the building.
So, with the county budget the tightest it’s been in years, Brown was left to brainstorm. That was, until recently, when the state announced it would be releasing even more funding for local jail facilities under a second phase of AB 900.