Plans to restructure and expand the Butte County Jail took moved forward Tuesday, with the County Board of Supervisors unanimously approving documents that should help secure state funding that will cover most of the cost.
The board also approved a contract for designing a new evidence and morgue building for the sheriff’s office.
Both the evidence and morgue building and the jail are considered functionally obsolete. The 614-inmate jail was built in 1963 and expanded in 1994.
AB 109, a reform bill aimed at reducing overcrowding in state prisons, sent larger numbers of more serious offenders to county jails. The jails have new security concerns and a greater need for programs aimed at getting offenders to abandon criminal behavior.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea has been advocating for the project, noting current deficiencies.
“It will include programming space, which is something that we’re also significantly lacking at the Butte County Jail,” Honea said. “Our jail, as you know was never designed to hold inmates for the lengthy sentences that we currently house them under AB 109.”
Tuesday’s action should make the county eligible for as much as $40 million in state funds, covering as much as 90 percent of the project’s cost. Current plans call for increasing capacity by 50 beds and completing the project in 2020.