SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Sacramento County's Board of Supervisors returns Aug. 8 with not only a response to a report highlighting the Sacramento Main Jail's problems, but also a new estimated cost for the jail's expansion.
Department of General Services officials are set to recommend approving construction and development contracts for the new Main Jail Intake and Health Services Facility.
This comes after the Board of Supervisors agreed in 2022 to come back with more reliable cost estimates and timelines for the jail expansion plan.
Along with the proposed hiring of companies like Kitchell/CEM, Inc. and Nacht & Lewis Architects, Inc., county officials are proposing a new estimated project cost — $654 million.
"In early fall of 2024, when the criteria document is expected to be completed, the County’s consultants will provide an updated estimate," Department of General Services Director Jeffrey A. Gasaway recently wrote.
The initial budget estimate approved by County Supervisors on Dec. 8, 2022 was $450 million and it came after two days of intense debate.
This decision was consistent with a recommendation outlined in a November 2022 report by one of the companies recommended for a construction contract, Nacht & Lewis Architects. The report presented to County Supervisors also outlined a third recommendation that has estimated costs of $655 million.
The most costly recommendation in the Nacht & Lewis report calls for the county to construct a new full-service jail for $1.81 billion.
Background
A new Main Jail Intake and Health Services Facility is being built to settle the Mays v. County of Sacramento lawsuit, which alleged the county ignored mandated mental health, medical care and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance.
The facility is set to be built as a separate, stand-alone facility for medical and mental health services on the Main Jail's 'Bark lot.'
Allegations in the Mays v. County of Sacramento lawsuit led to the county approving the Mays Consent Decree. It required the county provide constitutionally adequate care and conditions of confinement to incarcerated people at the Main Jail and the Rio Cosumnes Correction Center.
As part of the Mays Consent Decree, county officials also released a Jail Population Reduction Plan that sets out to reduce the daily population of incarcerated people in Sacramento County Jail by 475.
