The Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria is on schedule and is expected to be ready by July 2029.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors met in Santa Maria and approved the new jail expansion design in a 4-0 vote Tuesday. Supervisor Bob Nelson did not participate in the vote because he left before the item began.
Santa Barbara County is in the middle of restructuring its jail system. The county currently operates two jails: the Main Jail in Santa Barbara and the Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria. The Main Jail is larger but older, with deteriorating facilities. The Northern Branch Jail was built recently and has enough land around it for an expansion.
The county intends to downsize the number of beds at the Main Jail and limit the facility to intake services. To compensate for fewer beds there, the county will expand the Northern Branch Jail.
The design that the supervisors approved Tuesday is for 1.5 additional housing units, which totals 384 beds. The beds will be separated among six pods with 64 beds each.
In July, the board approved a $138,650,000 design-build contract for the project with Sletten Construction Co.
Jeffrey Patton, assistant director of General Services, told the board that the project is on schedule and on budget. Construction is expected to begin in 2027, and officials anticipate the facilities will be ready to open by July 2029.
He explained that the staff has learned from the Northern Branch Jail when designing the new pods.
“We have further expanded things like access to natural life features within the cells in terms of furnishings, etc., to provide a more modern and even more humane facility,” Patton told the board.
He also clarified that the new pods are not high-security and are designed to allow for people to interact. He said the county is taking a more progressive approach to its design by limiting restrictive housing and high-security areas. That includes allowing inmates to socialize with others.
“We typically … start them in smaller groups and acclimate them to larger groups as they move along in their incarceration,” Patton said.
During comments from the board, Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said he was happy that the project is on time and on budget. He also praised county staff for listening to the public and incorporating the feedback into the design.
In response to claims from the public that the county is making the expansion too big, Lavagnino said he hopes opponents are right. However, he said the supervisors must consider the needs of the county in the future.
He supported his argument by pointing to the county’s housing efforts and the growing populations of cities such as Santa Maria, Goleta and Orcutt.
Lavagnino also thanked the public for its input and holding the board’s feet to the fire during the design process.
“Nobody wants to do this,” he said, “but I think we’re getting the best possible project that we can right now.”
The Northern Branch Jail is currently a 376-bed facility at 2301 Black Road. Its construction took about five years, with delays pushing completion well past the original timeline. It opened in early 2022. The project was funded by $80 million in state grant funding and about $40 million in county funds.
The expansion may be funded entirely by the county.
Santa Barbara Jail Expansion Details
The new schematics also include recommendations received from community meetings held in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria. Residents were invited to review the early plans for the expansion and offer input on the designs.
Recommendations from the community ranged from design, landscaping and programming for the people in custody.
The county incorporated some of the input, including integrating interview and health treatment spaces into the pods. That allows people to have direct access from their housing areas. Residents also recommended that the shower areas include more hooks, handles and shelf space.
Each housing area also will have space for programming and recreation areas, according to General Services.
The Northern Branch Jail, which originally opened in 2022, was built to help address overcrowding and poor conditions at the Main Jail. The Main Jail was built in the 1970s.
The county was forced to address overcrowding and other issues after a class-action lawsuit in 2017 argued that inmates were held in dangerous and unconstitutional conditions at the Main Jail. A settlement required the county to address the conditions.
Because of the high costs of fixing the Main Jail, the county decided it was better to build onto the Northern Branch Jail.
Opponents of the jail expansion spoke out during public comment at Tuesday’s meeting, advocating for better mental health programs and support instead of a jail expansion.
Gail Osherenko, who represents the local chapter of the League of Women Voters on its Criminal Justice Task Force, said the group supports rehabilitation for people who are often abused and offering them a chance to be embraced as part of the community.
“We don’t feel that this what we’re doing here, overbuilding the jail system, is really getting us there,” she said, “and it’s unfortunately taking money away from things that (we really) do need in the community.”
