Future county jail will include social resources for inmate rehabilitation
Published in the March 16- 29, 2016 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Mike Wasserman
Mike Wasserman
Like any political leader, I would much rather build schools and libraries than jails. But rarely, if ever, are we presented with such simple choices. In Santa Clara County, we have an aging jail building that is literally falling apart and soon will be unable to house inmates. The building, Main Jail South, was constructed in the 1950s and designed for short-term incarceration. It was built when Dwight Eisenhower was president, Alaska and Hawaii were not yet states, and stamps cost 3 cents. Times have changed dramatically, and the jail is overdue for being replaced with a modern facility that reflects the challenges of housing our current inmate population and addressing mental health needs.
When the state implemented AB 109 prison realignment in 2011, many inmates were shifted from prisons to local county jails, which dramatically changed the demographics and dynamics of the jail population. This is the hand we have been dealt.
A majority of the county’s inmates serving time under AB 109 committed low- to mid-level felony charges such as drug possession and residential burglary, but most of the jail population is guarded with minimum to medium security.
Main Jail South has a capacity of 674 inmates and is designed in the older linear style, complete with bars and tiers. This indirect supervision model, although popular in the 1950s, is not the norm in modern jail settings because officer-inmate interaction is minimized.
The new facility will address these significant inadequacies and replace this half-a-century-old structure with a design more conducive to rehabilitation programs for this new population.
In 2013, we re-doubled efforts to battle recidivism (former inmates committing future crimes), by investing in our Re-Entry Resource Center in San Jose.The center’s mission is to build safer communities through successful re-integration and re-entry of formerly incarcerated individuals back into Santa Clara County.
When someone is released from jail following their time served, they are offered a variety of programs including counseling, mental health treatment, alcohol and drug treatment, case management, and basic needs assistance. Thanks to our re-entry program, Santa Clara County has at 34 percent one of the lowest recidivism rates in the state, which is roughly half of the state average of 61 percent. Recognizing a need for South County, I worked with local leaders to create a satellite Re-Entry Resource Center to serve Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy to provide the same services.
The cost to build a new jail is significant. The good news is that our county was recently one of a handful of counties to receive $80 million in state funds to help offset the estimated $281 million jail cost.
Under the proposed timeline, construction on the seven-story, 325,000-square-foot building would begin in summer 2017 and be completed by 2020.Keeping former offenders from committing future crimes is a good investment for our entire community. The new jail will not only replace an outdated facility, but it will also do some of the work of the Re-Entry Center while inmates are still incarcerated by offering programs including education, substance abuse treatment, life skills and mental health treatment.
I take the safety of our residents very seriously, and I look forward to seeing better outcomes and better public safety for all.
Mike Wasserman is the Santa Clara County Supervisor for District 1, which includes the South Valley region and Morgan Hill. He wrote this column for Morgan Hill Life. His website is www.supervisorwasserman.org
