The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors faces a major decision on Tuesday: What size jail system should the county have in the future?

Supervisors have already decided they want to expand the Northern Branch Jail near Santa Maria, which opened in 2022, and downsize the older Main Jail, near Santa Barbara.

They will review proposals on Tuesday and determine how many in-custody spots to add to the Northern Branch Jail.

Supervisors are being presented with options to add one housing unit, or “pod,” 1 1/2 housing units, or two housing units.

Depending on what the board decides, the total number of beds in the jail system after the expansion could be 728, 876 or 1,004.

There are 376 beds in the Northern Branch Jail, and the county proposes reducing the Main Jail capacity to 116 people. The Main Jail has a rated capacity of 751 beds, but before the pandemic it regularly housed more than 800 people.

The cost of adding housing units is expected to be at least $120.3 million for a single pod. If the board approves the other options, the costs would be $165 million for 1 1/2 pods or even $201.8 million for two pods, according to a staff report.

Sheriff Bill Brown recommends the two-pod option, calling it a “relocation, reduction and improvement of existing jail beds.”

“Option 3, with 1,004 beds, provides for a 15% flex and is the only option that will ensure that Santa Barbara County will have sufficient jail beds to safely, humanely and legally house our future jail population and meet the requirements in the Murray case. Specifically, it is imperative that SBC continues to ensure that we have a rated bed for each of our current and future jail inmates,” the Sheriff’s Office report says.

Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, who represents the Fifth District, said even though he understands why people may not want to spend taxpayer money on jail systems, the county needs to expand the Northern Branch Jail.

Lavagnino stated that the county needs to be able to house people in custody and is required to expand the number of beds due to the settlement of a 2017 class action disability rights lawsuit. The Murray case accused the county of violating constitutional rights of people in custody due to the poor conditions of the aging Main Jail.

“No matter how much diversion you have or intervention you have, there are some people at the end of the day that have to be separated from the community,” Lavagnino said. “And so, this is something we’ve got to do.”

Lavagnino also said that building the extra space makes more sense because it will only become more expensive to build in the future.

In 2015, when county supervisors approved building the Northern Branch Jail, Lavagnino supported accepting state funds to build a mental health treatment and re-entry facility next door.

However, the rest of the board at the time did not support the idea since the county would have had to contribute a portion of the costs for construction and pay to operate the facilities.

Lavagnino said that not accepting the funds at the time and building the extra space was a mistake.

“The state was paying 90% of the construction and we were already building another jail there. That would have been a good idea. But you know, going back and talking about it doesn’t do us any good at this point. It’s like, ‘Look, somebody else made these decisions and now we’ve got to live with it,’” Lavagnino said.

Supervisor Bob Nelson from the Fourth District said he would listen to the recommendation of Sheriff Bill Brown, who oversees the jail system. He added that he believes that expanding the jail will benefit the county moving forward.

“We’re not making this decision for the circumstances today. We’re making this decision for what things will look like in 30 years from now. One of my jobs as a supervisor is to set us up for the next generation and making good decisions now,” Nelson said.

Nelson shares the opinion that waiting to build onto the jail will only make the project more expensive.

In a statement, Supervisor Laura Capps from the Second District said she supported doing more to help inmates with mental health or substance abuse issues.

“I’ll approach Tuesday’s hearing with an open mind, but I believe adding one additional housing unit is both the most rational and fiscally responsible choice. This decision presents a crucial opportunity to accelerate the expansion of successful diversion programs that support individuals whose offenses stem from mental health or substance abuse issues. By directing them into proper care rather than incarceration, they are far more likely to recover, and the chances of reoffending are significantly reduced. This approach is far less costly, far more humane, and far better for public safety,” Capps said.

County’s Jail System

The Northern Branch Jail was built to relieve overcrowding at the Santa Barbara Main Jail. Construction took longer and cost more than expected, and operating costs of running both facilities were also higher than expected.

The county spent more than $90 million operating both jails the first year it opened and expects to spend $95 million this year.

The county’s long-term plan is to downsize the Main Jail in the South County to a holding site for people who are preparing for court. The Northern Branch Jail will then become the main housing center for people in custody.

The number of people in custody dropped significantly during the pandemic. It increased afterward, but is still below pre-pandemic numbers. There was an average of 750 people in custody per day in 2024, between both facilities, according to the county.

The number of people in custody is projected to increase 9% over the next decade, to 800 people per day, because of community population increases, a consultant report says.

The county has developed several programs to divert lower-level offenders from jail custody, including the pre-trial diversion program and alternative sentencing, which allows eligible people to serve their time on electric monitoring. The Public Defender’s Office READY program gets people legal representation quickly after arriving at the Northern Branch Jail.

To go along with the Northern Branch Jail expansion plans, the Sheriff’s Office released staffing plans.

If one housing unit is added, it would require nine more staff members overall, with an estimated annual cost of $58.7 million, according to the report.

The proposal for 1 1/2 pods would require 20 new employees and cost $61 million annually. For two pods, the sheriff’s office is recommending adding 34 staff, which will cost $63.8 annually.

Staffing shortages at the county jails have been an issue for at least the past decade. Low staffing of custody deputies leads to mandatory overtime, which hurts staff morale, according to Sheriff’s Office officials. There have been some recent successes with hiring incentives, according to the county.

Due to low staffing, the Sheriff’s Office spent an extra $11 million on overtime in 2024.

Opposition to the Plan

Some community groups have pushed back on plans to expand the jail, saying the county needs to instead expand facilities for mental health treatment.

The League of Women Voters of Santa Barbara issued a statement asking the Board of Supervisors to consider a six-month pause before it moves forward with any plans.

During this period, the group proposes forming a task force to explore how the county can reduce the current jail population and avoid using taxpayer money to add on to the jail.

“We’re not keen on jail as a way to solve mental health problems,” said Gail Osherenko, who represents the LWVSB on the Criminal Justice Task Force.

She also believes that using money to expand the jail will take away funds that could be used for other programs, like housing and mental health services.  

“It’s having enough behavioral wellness facilities, enough beds in the psychiatric health facility, having enough step-down beds. And having enough services (and) having enough staff,” Oshrenko said.

“Also beginning to really fully house people who are homeless (and) not overfilling the jails has a lot to do with addressing poverty and housing needs throughout the community.”

Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt submitted a letter on behalf of the Santa Maria and Lompoc branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) supporting a pause and a task force.

“Like many in our community, we DO NOT support incarcerating people with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) nor making treating people with SMI, the responsibility of the Sheriff,” she wrote in the letter.

In its comment letter, the group claimed that out of 732 jail residents, over 400 of them have a history of mental illness and 200 deal with substance abuse.

“While in custody and falling under jail healthcare, jail healthcare does not treat
mental illness; it only manages symptoms until these individuals, our family
members, friends, neighbors, can return to our communities,” the letter continued.

Other groups called for better intervention, citing the increasing costs of housing people with mental illness in the jail system.

“At every possible opportunity, the county should prioritize policies and programs that have been shown to reduce incarceration – before arrest, after arrest when necessary, and at all points with the justice system,” wrote the local National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) group. “Doing otherwise continues to increase the cost of untreated illness to the County.