Fiscal responsibility, low profits main issues for supes’
decision
The county will not be welcoming new state prison facilities anytime soon after the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors shot down a plan at Tuesday’s board meeting that would build a halfway house to hold prisoners who are in their last 12 months of incarceration.
The decision came after recommendation from the county executive’s office to reject the proposal due to the agency’s uncertain financial future and concern that costs to keep the facilities up and running would overshadow the net funds the county would receive.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty around what the county’s fiscal responsibility would be,” said assisstant County Executive Gary Graves at the meeting Tuesday.
The plan is part of a statewide effort by correction officials to find at least 32 counties are willing to host “re-entry” facilities to reduce prison overcrowding and lower California’s 70 percent recidivism rate, which is good enough for the highest rate in the country.
With more than 170,000 prisoners occupying facilities designed for only 83,000, the state is offering incentives to counties that agree to build such facilities like giving those counties preference when it distributes $1.2 billion jail-upgrade funds and it would cover the maintenance and upgrade costs for the facilities.
According to Graves’ office, local developer Barry Swenson is considering building a separate rehabilitation facility that would house 200 women, which is part of a seperate contract proposal from the state in an effort to build facilities for 1,200 women statewide.
According to Graves and Santa Clara County Supervisor Pete McHugh, Swenson’s proposed site at 10 Kirk Ave., in North San Jose, is not a suitable location because it is in a one-mile radius of Alum Rock United Methodist Church and Linda Vista Elementary School.
