The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department recently announced that the California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) awarded the county full funding—almost $38.98 million—for construction of the Sheriff’s Transition and Re-entry (S.T.A.R.) complex.
The county submitted an application to the board in October 2013 for money under Senate Bill 1022, the Construction of Criminal Justice Facilities Act.
The S.T.A.R complex will be located on the same site as the future North County Jail. Officials expect the two projects to be built at the same time.
According to a press release from the Sheriff’s Department, the S.T.A.R. complex will provide additional housing specifically designed to help inmates transition from a custody setting back into the community. The building will also provide a space for education and life-skills classes, as well as substance abuse treatment. Additionally, the Sheriff’s alternative sentencing bureau will be relocated to this facility.
Eleven mid-size counties applied for funding through the act, but Santa Barbara County was one of only four that were awarded the full amount requested.
“This is another huge step in constructing an appropriately sized jail in North County,” Sheriff Bill Brown said in the press release. “The new facility will help alleviate the added burden we are bearing as a result of AB 109 Criminal Justice Realignment, which has shifted the responsibility to us for housing approximately 160 inmates who would have formerly been sentenced to state prison.”
