The Northern Branch Jail’s largest housing unit holds 64 people and is built in the direct supervision model with a work station in the unit for Santa Barbara County sheriff’s custody staff. 
A Northern Branch Jail direct supervision housing unit has a work station for Santa Barbara County sheriff’s custody staff. 
A two-person cell in the Northern Branch Jail. 
The front of the Northern Branch Jail seen from Black Road. 
Sheriff’s Sgt. Sean Dugger explains the Northern Branch Jail’s control room function during a facility tour on Nov. 18. 
A sheriff’s custody staff member explains the intake area of the Northern Branch Jail during a tour Nov. 18. 
A cell in the intake area of the Northern Branch Jail. 
People booked into custody in the Northern Branch Jail have to wear jail-specific clothing that is distributed in the intake area. 
One of the Northern Branch Jail’s four safety cells, which include softer-material walls and floor and no furniture. 
The Northern Branch Jail’s medical unit includes a nurses station that is staffed whenever people are housed in the medical area, according to the Sheriff’s Office. 
A cell with a hospital-type bed in the medical unit of the Northern Branch Jail. 
A small direct supervision housing unit for men in custody in the Northern Branch Jail. The recreation area is seen through the window. 
The F housing unit is for women in custody, according to the Sheriff’s Office. 
Two restricted housing units are shown by Sheriff’s Sgt. Sean Dugger during a facility tour Nov. 18. People in custody in these areas have issues that prevent them from being housed in the general population, Dugger said. 
A closer look at one of the restricted housing units. People in this area typically are kept in their cells most of the time and individually get time to use the common room, according to the Sheriff’s Office. 
A video visitation room near the intake area of the Northern Branch Jail. The jail was built without in-person visitation areas. 
An indirect superision housing unit in the Northern Branch Jail. To the right, not shown, is a glass-walled room where a custody deputy will work. 
The small recreation area for the A housing unit shown previously. The Santa Barbara County Grand Jury criticized the size of the jali’s exercise areas and said the small enclosures were inadequate. 
Contract staff and a crew of people in custody will work in the Northern Branch Jail kitchen to prepare meals. The meals will be delivered to housing units on trays. 
A crew of people in custody will work in the Northern Branch Jail laundry facility, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office says the Northern Branch Jail will start operating in early 2022, and the county offered tours inside the facility on Nov. 18 after a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
To view a photo gallery of the jail, click the arrow on the right side of the photo above.
The Northern Branch Jail most likely will house people who have Superior Court cases in Santa Maria, family in the North County, or participate in certain programs that are hosted there versus the Santa Barbara-area jail, Sheriff Bill Brown said.
Sheriff’s Office Chief Vincent Wasilewski, head of the Custody Operations Branch, said the jail population is typically 50/50 North County community residents and South County community residents.
“We’re going to try to mirror programming at both, but some are going to be north and some are going to be held south just because we don’t have the bandwidth to do 100% of them at each one,” Wasilewski said.
Brown mentioned the Sheriff’s Treatment Program, medication-assisted treatment, and dog and cat socialization programs planned for the North County jail.
Some of the housing units are designed for direct supervision, with a custody deputy’s desk within the housing unit and an open-cell-door policy allowing people in custody to access the day room, “yard” area, video visitation and multipurpose rooms all within that housing unit.
Custody deputies will get to know the people in their housing unit and be the first point of contact for requests and questions, Sheriff’s Office staff said during a facility tour.
Other units are restricted housing where people will be kept in one-person or two-person cells most of the time, except when they are allowed to individually use the day rooms and “yard” areas in that housing unit.
There are also observation cells and safety cells, transportation-corridor cells for people on their way to and from court appearances, and medical unit rooms.
There are classrooms and a computer lab, which will host programming in the jail, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The Northern Branch Jail was designed and built only with video visitation, not in-person options, which the Grand Jury criticized in a 2020 report.
“The standards have changed since then, but our facility was grandfathered in” since it was considered an expensive design change, Wasilewski said.
The Grand Jury also criticized the small exercise areas.
“Considering the potentially long sentences for some inmates, these small enclosures are inadequate,” the Grand Jury wrote.
Some of the housing units have a recreation area attached, which have tall concrete walls and a basketball hoop.
County capital projects manager John Green said the recreation areas meet California Board of State and Community Corrections standards.
Although the Main Jail near Santa Barbara will have fewer people in it when the Northern Branch Jail opens, the Sheriff’s Office anticipates no cost savings for the Main Jail operations, according to Wasilewski.
He recently told the Board of Supervisors that the difference in operating costs between the Northern Branch Jail (376 beds) and Main Jail (852 beds) is “not as dramatic as one would have thought,” and there are administrative costs for operating another full-service jail with booking, a kitchen, and medical and mental health services.
The new jail's operating cost is estimated at $20.4 million each year, which would be in addition to the $48.8 million cost of operating the Main Jail.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.