Expansion Plan for West County Jail on Hold

By Bay City News Service

At a meeting Thursday morning in Martinez that drew several dozen community members, local clergy and law enforcement, a county committee decided to delay voting on a proposal to expand a jail in Richmond.

The Contra Costa County's Community Corrections Partnership Executive Committee agreed to postpone the vote on the proposal that would spend $2.9 in state realignment money under Assembly Bill 109 to expand the West County Jail by 150 beds.

AB 109 shifted the responsibility for monitoring, tracking and imprisoning low-level offenders previously headed to state prison to county jails. The $2.9 jail expansion, proposed by Contra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston, would come from a $19 million state grant to help accommodate prisoners transferred to county jails under realignment.

All but one committee member, District Attorney Mark Peterson, said they would follow the recommendations of state Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, state Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Oakland, and others to allow more time to research the proposal and consider other funding options before a final vote.

The vote will be delayed for up to six weeks to give the committee time to thoroughly vet the budget proposal, said Philip Kader, the county's chief probation officer and committee chair.

Another member of the committee, Richmond police Chief Chris Magnus, recently voiced his opposition to the proposed jail expansion, saying the county should instead consider cost-saving alternatives such as bail reform.

"Wouldn't it make some sense to implement the needed bail reforms first that have worked so well in other places - without increasing the rate of crime?" Magnus said in a written statement. "Finally, shouldn't we also make sure we are actually listening to the recommendations of the (county's) Community Advisory Board ... about spending some of this $19 million for things like 'One-Stop Re-entry Centers'?"

Dozens of community members also spoke passionately against the proposed jail expansion, urging the committee to spend realignment money on housing, employment and mental health services for released prisoners to keep them out of jail. Many attendees carried signs and wore stickers that read "Invest in People, Not Prisons."

The jail is located at 5555 Giant Highway.

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