Calhoun on jail beds
The County certainly does not have the money to build new jail facilities at this time. It is unfortunate that the County did not have the foresight when it built the juvenile facility to allocate some of those monies for a juvenile courthouse or a new jail. The $147 million expenditure for the juvenile facility was an excessive amount to spend with no court facility attached. The County currently pays $900,000/year to transport juveniles to court in the City of Fresno.
Instead of building another expensive jail, I would consider contracting for services for low-risk inmates. I also suggest we look at existing available vacant buildings such as the former Spaghetti Factory on R Street. These buildings could be “rehabbed” for low-risk inmates for considerably less cost than building a new facility.