Crime & Safety

Grand Jury Commends Sheriff's Department for Las Colinas Expansion

They also recommend that when the lockup does open, it should be equipped with new computers and updated software.

The Sheriff's Department is doing an "excellent" job of managing the increasing inmate population at San Diego County detention facilities due to a bill aimed at easing overcrowding at state prisons by sending low-level offenders to local jails, according to a grand jury report released Monday.

The implementation of Assemby Bill 109 -- signed into legislation in 2011 -- is having an impact on housing space, detainee populations and Sheriff's Department staffing at the facilities, increasing the number of offenders serving their sentences in local jails as well as their length of incarceration, the report says.

Since local detention facilities are approaching capacity, the grand jury recommended housing all inmates who are serving longer sentences, because of AB 109, at one facility. Doing so would concentrate rehabilitation and training programs for longer-duration inmates without requiring changes at every facility, according to the report.

Find out what's happening in Santeewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The grand jury also commended the Sheriff's Department on expansion of the Las Colinas detention facility for women. The grand jury recommended that when the lockup does open, it should be equipped with new computers and updated software.

Work is underway on the $221 million project that will nearly triple the size of the detention center in the heart of Santee. Construction of the expanded 45 acres is due to be completed in early 2016. Las Colinas acts as the detention facility for women arrested in San Diego County.

Find out what's happening in Santeewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

-City News Service

Also read:

  • Video: Las Colinas Expansion Discussed During State of the County Address
  • Legal Attempts to Stop Las Colinas Expansion Are Thwarted
  • Open House Sheds Light on Expansion of Las Colinas Detention Center
  • Grand Jury Describes Las Colinas as 'Well Maintained' in New Report
  • Las Colinas Tops Report on Future of San Diego County Jails

COMMENT: Would you commend the expansion of Las Colinas?


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