LAKE COUNTY — Overcrowding, limited grant money and safety concerns prompted the call for a new $20 million juvenile hall building in Lake County, according to a report from Lake County Chief Probation Officer Steven Buchholz.
The board of supervisors postponed a decision Tuesday about whether to apply for a state grant for the new hall. Buchholz said the Criminal Justice Resource Foundation recommended a 60-bed facility that would have the capacity to expand to 90 beds. The county would have to commit to a $5 million match from its general fund. The discussion will continue Oct. 7, when the foundation”s report detailing the county”s juvenile hall needs is expected to be finished.
“That puts the board in a difficult position to approve this when they haven”t seen the needs assessment and they don”t know what the options are.
The existing facility was designed originally to expand. It has not been expanded as it was originally designed, so I think that”s still an option,” County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox said.
A recent assessment found the facility could not be remodeled to meet new state standards, according to Buchholz.
He said the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA) identified Lake County”s juvenile hall as “likely ? the worst small county juvenile hall in the state” for structure and design. Buchholz said the current 40-bed juvenile hall is full most of the time.
“Eight of our 16 rooms have three beds to a room. Think about three teenagers to a room versus two teenagers to a room. It”s almost always two on one. We have usually eight to 14 girls ? Nortenos, Surenos, Skinheads ? the different gangs, we have kids that are victims of other kids, where one kid will victimize a youngster and then get arrested themselves for a crime, and yet we only have a total of 16 rooms,” Buchholz said.
Fred Campbell of the Criminal Justice Resource Foundation recommended a two-pod facility that would allow more separation, according to Buccholz, whether the separation happens because of gang affiliation, differences in size or age, or because of personality conflict. Currently, the county”s juvenile hall is one unit, he said.
Lake County is not alone in its need for better facilities, according to Buchholz.
He said CSA sent out a request for proposals statewide for juvenile hall construction projects after a firm that specializes in representing inmates” rights filed suit. He said $100 million was available statewide, $30 million of which is for small counties.
“It”s highly unlikely there will be another grant offer for more than five years,” Buchholz said.
Buchholz said because the county might be eligible for a small-county exception, the $5 million county match might be brought down to as little as $3 million. Buchholz said if the county decided to pursue the grant, the match might be paid in chunks of $1 million per year, starting in the 2009-10 fiscal year.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
