A multimillion dollar expansion of the Butte County jail is expected to take another step forward Tuesday as the Board of Supervisors considers a revised plan.
The proposed new wing will house virtually all of the county’s inmates. If completed as planned, the jail will be able to hold 52 more inmates than today.
Much of the existing jail is slated for remodeling into instructional space. Officials believe proper vocational and other training can reduce the percentage of released inmates that return to a life of crime.
The revised proposal being reviewed Tuesday is slightly smaller and about 500 feet away from where it was initially planned. The new plan would hold six fewer inmates. The new location will free the county from having to reconfigure drainage at a nearby site proposed earlier, an expensive endeavor.
A pre-fabricated metal structure, officially the county’s evidence room and morgue, would be sacrificed under the new plan. According to documents provided to the board, the 50-year-old evidence building, like the jail, is obsolete.
Among many other items up for discussion Tuesday is one that will likely draw some deal of controversy: library funding. In what is shaping up as the legislative equivalent of a game of chicken, the board and the Chico Council are each hoping the other will pay for extended operating hours.
If approved without changes, the Chico branch would open two hours later Tuesdays and Wednesdays and one hour later Thursdays and Fridays. Monday hours would be eliminated entirely. The reduced hours would take effect July 5.