Politics & Government

County Gets $100 Million For Jail Construction

The Riverside County jail system has been under a permanent federal court order for persistent overcrowding since 1993, according to a Riverside County Sheriff's Department news release.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department received verbal notification that its request for $100 million in grant funding for jail construction to help relieve overcrowding over the next few years was approved by the State Corrections Standards Authority in Sacramento Thursday, the department is reporting.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department worked with the County CEO and the County Economic Development Agency in putting together the application that started this past summer, applying for 1,200 additional beds to the jail system, which is now at a 3,906-bed capacity, according to a news release from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

Riverside County was ranked second behind Los Angeles County in terms of need, according to the news release. The Riverside County jail system has been under a permanent federal court order for persistent overcrowding since 1993, the release stated.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“As such, since the start of January 2012, over 600 inmates have been released early,” the news release stated.

"We are excited about the news, and appreciate the collaboration from the Board of Supervisors, CEO Larry Parrish's staff, and from Riverside County EDA. Finding the additional funding for the matching costs and the required staffing will be our next step, but expanding our local system is critical over the next few years if we are to keep our communities across Riverside County safe. The release of any inmates due simply to jail overcrowding is not suitable to any of us in the criminal justice system," Sheriff Stan Sniff said in the news release.

Find out what's happening in Lake Elsinore-Wildomarwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The current County Capital Improvement Plan currently designates the expansion of the jail in Indio as the county's number one priority. Even with this latest news on funding, however, that expansion is still several years away even if the required staffing can be funded. According to the news release, under the terms of the grant funding, a 10 percent local match from the county is required.


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