Mental health and medical care resources along with critical building updates will begin at Santa Barbara County’s Main Jail after the Board of Supervisors’ approval of the design phase.
Assistant County Executive Officer Jeff Frapwell discussed current conditions at the jail and the best rehabilitation options at the Nov. 9 Board of Supervisors meeting.
“The scope of the rehabilitation is critical to the long-term viability of the facility. It’s not driven by the specific jail population; to a large extent it’s a necessary reflection of our needs to comply with the California Disability Rights Class Action lawsuit,” Frapwell said.
The 2017 lawsuit, Murray v. County of Santa Barbara, reached a settlement in 2020 to address “dangerous and unconstitutional conditions in the jail.” In the agreement, the county committed to improve medical and mental health care as well as improve suicide prevention practices at the jail, according to previous Sun reporting.
The selected rehabilitation project is set to cost a total of $24.2 million—funded through the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services grant funds—and it will take three and a half to four years to complete, he said.
“This is the least expensive alternative to address immediate deferred capital, the amount of time required is considerably shorter than other options, and it provides adequate time to develop a needs assessment for future requirements in a post-pandemic world and evaluates the need for additional program requirements,” Frapwell said.
Funds will be used for Americans with Disabilities Act compliances, roof replacements, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, plumbing, and electrical updates, as well as expansion for programming space, a medical and mental health area addition, and overall cell improvements, according to the executive officer’s board letter.
Prior to any main jail updates, an assessment will be taken into consideration of a jail population study and input from both internal and community criminal justice stakeholders, Frapwell said.
First District Supervisor Das Williams expressed financial concerns about any investment in the jail at all.
“I submit to you that the main jail is a money pit, and facilities usually don’t get better as they age; it usually gets worse. It’s not just $24 million, it’s $24 million plus increases as the facility continues to age,” Williams said.
“We shouldn’t need to spend on maintenance and facilities and a large unknown of staffing costs. We haven’t even performed the analysis of staffing costs this option is going to create,” Williams continued. “We are being asked to pursue a path that is an unknown amount of millions more.”
Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson saw the jail investment as a tool—not an overall solution—to overcome crime.
“I’d much rather be spending these dollars on roads, building parks and trails, but this is one of those necessary things we have to do,” he said.
Nelson’s pointed out upticks in shootings in Lompoc, and jails are a way to ensure community safety, he said.
“The shootings in Lompoc are startling in the way that our law enforcement resources are taxed,” Nelson continued.
About 239 violent crimes happened in 2020 in Lompoc, according to FBI data, down from 2019’s rate of 291 violent crime reports. The FBI 2021 data is not available, but the Lompoc Police Department reported two homicides and an officer-involved shooting, and investigated two gang-related shootings in October alone—according to Lompoc’s city website.
“There’s serious criminalistic behaviors that are terrorizing members of our community. I want to make sure we have the tools to address these problems moving forward,” Nelson said.
This article appears in Nov 18-25, 2021.
