Santa Barbara County Receives State AB900 Jail Construction Award

The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department is pleased to announce that Santa Barbara County has been conditionally awarded a state grant of $56.3 million to build a new jail. Santa Barbara was ranked 5th of 14 large and medium applicant counties by the AB900 Construction Funding Grant Executive Steering Committee for Phase I funding.  These rank-order recommendations were presented to the Corrections Standards Authority Board, with a recommendation that Santa Barbara County receive all of the $56,295,000.00 requested during the Grant Process. A total of $650 million was awarded to large and medium counties, with a further $100 million awarded to small counties. 

“I am extremely pleased that the state recognized our crucial need for a new jail and our continuing commitment to the successful re-entry of offenders,” said Sheriff Bill Brown. “We still have lots of work to do before the new jail is built, but this is a major step forward. I want to thank my staff and the other members of our multi-disciplinary team for their outstanding work on developing Santa Barbara County’s proposal.”

The announcement was made yesterday in Sacramento by the Corrections Standards Authorities AB900 Jail Construction Executive Steering Committee. The CDCR will be validating proposed re-entry sites for those counties recommended to receive funds prior to actually awarding the grant funds. 

“I was proud and honored to have the opportunity to accompany Sheriff Brown and his “team” to Sacramento last month to urge CDCR’s support for Santa Barbara County’s AB 900 proposal,” said Supervisor Janet Wolf. “I am thrilled--though not surprised---that Santa Barbara’s well-thought out, comprehensive proposal was selected for full funding.  This is a huge step that will move us forward in meeting the challenges posed by jail overcrowding and community re-entry.”

The AB900 grant funding process began in November 2007. The proposal team consisted of members from the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department, County Council, Planning and Development, General Services, Treasurers Office, CFO’s Office, Auditors Office, Assessors Office, and several expert consultants. If you are interested in more detailed information on the AB900 Grant Funding Process, visit www.cdcr.ca.gov on the web.

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