Riverside County to Consider 5 Possible Sites for Hub Jail

Riverside County officials have named five potential locations for an ambitious new hub jail, including spots near Palm Springs, Moreno Valley, Gilman Springs and Mead Valley, according to a report being considered by the Board of Supervisors today. .

The board will also deliberate a controversial quarter-cent-on-the-dollar sales tax increase that could be used to fund the proposed 1,200-bed facility, part of a $2.4-billion criminal justice construction plan.

Sheriff Bob Doyle has pushed for an expansion of Riverside County’s overburdened jail system, which houses about 3,200 inmates. Last year, because of space constraints, nearly that many were released before their sentences were complete.

Three of the sites are near Highway 60, a fourth is near the interchange of Interstate 215 and State Route 74, and the fifth is near Interstate 10 east of Banning. The private and county-owned parcels range from dozens to hundreds of acres and were chosen for a combination of their locations, the availability of developable land, and the market value and the makeup of nearby areas, according to the county executive office’s report.

County staff members emphasize that the locations, which represent some of the county’s most usable tracts of vacant land, are subject to change.

“They’re definitely a starting place,” said Serena Chow, a senior management analyst with the county executive office, who helped to prepare the proposal.

“There’s a lot that goes into selecting jail sites,” said Undersheriff Neil D. Lingle, including community input, land affordability and location.

“I don’t think we’re leaning more toward one location than another,” Lingle said. “We just know we need to do it somewhere.”

Supervisor Marion Ashley, whose district includes three of the five sites, said he had already vetted several and found them unworkable. One is too close to Moreno Valley’s developing eastern fringe and lies on rough terrain in critical wildlife habitat area, and another is on land set aside for a power plant, Ashley said.

“This is the beginning of the beginning of this process,” Ashley said. “There’s a lot of sites around better than that.” Ashley pinpointed the rural area between Moreno Valley and San Jacinto as a possibility for a future jail.

Ashley said he also hoped to work with supervisors and sheriff’s officials to cut “inflated” cost estimates, aiming to avoid a sales tax increase, he said. Doyle has characterized a tax hike as a last resort, Lingle said.

“We have to go step by step and squeeze every dime we can out of everything we already have,” Ashley said.

Supervisor Jeff Stone plans to present an alternative plan for a hub jail to Ashley and Sheriff’s Department officials today before the county workshop, said Verne Lauritzen, Stone’s chief of staff. Stone’s modular design would cost half as much as the sheriff’s plan and house as many as 6,000 inmates, Lauritzen said.

Officials will also discuss an immediate 480-bed expansion at Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.