_{Thumbnail photo: Consultants with NMR Architects, of Redding, are proposing a more open dormitory style layout rather than the row of cells that are currently at the Del Norte County Jail. | Screenshot}

Though they echoed the probation chief’s sentiments that they didn’t want their employees “living out of a bag,” Del Norte County supervisors green lit a proposal to house adult inmates in the Youth Opportunity Center while the jail undergoes a significant remodel.

It was the less expensive option out of two members of a working group presented to the Board on Tuesday. Those group members, which included Assistant County Administrative Officer Randy Hooper and Del Norte County Sheriff’s Capt. Kyle Stevens, also asked the Board to consider using Measure R and capital improvement dollars to close a funding gap in the jail rehab project.

The Board agreed, but asked staff to continue to work to secure state funding for the remodel. Supervisors also directed staff to make sure Del Norte County Probation has input into where they will be housed when construction starts next spring.

“I don’t want them to feel like they’re being tossed aside once again,” District 2 Supervisor Valerie Starkey said. “[I want them to] have input into where they need to be so they can provide the services to our youth that they are currently providing.”

Her District 1 colleague Darrin Short also urged Chief Probation Officer Lonnie Reyman to be transparent with the Board.

“I would like to say to the probation chief and the sheriff, this is not going to be comfortable, but I don’t want our employees living out of a bag either,” Short said. “Let us know what’s happening in your world. We want to stay — or at least I want to stay — involved in knowing what’s happening as this moves on, both [with] the sheriff’s office and probation.”
The seed money for the jail rehabilitation project comes from a $3.1 million federal appropriation from the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in fiscal year 2022. About a year ago, the county secured $2 million from the Board of State and Community Corrections Community Corrections Partnership program and CalAIM’s Providing Access and Transforming Health Initiatives program.

The working group spearheading the jail project includes county administration, building maintenance, and IT departments, as well as the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office and Del Norte County Probation. 

According to Stevens, there have been about 60 inmates housed at the Del Norte County Jail, though the year-round population averages between 80 and 100 individuals.

Hooper and Stevens were joined on Tuesday by Deven Carter, of NMR Architects of Redding, who is also part of the working group. At $10 million, the project they presented to the Board was the most economical version and focused on the portion of the jail that was built in 1964 and doesn’t currently meet modern safety standards.

An alternative would have been building a new jail, which would have cost an estimated $40 million, Carter said. Another option the architect presented was a multi-phased project in which the jail would still be operating while it’s under construction. According to Carter, the estimated cost for a multi-phased construction project would be about $20 million since there are safety risks and the contractor wouldn’t be able to move freely through the space.

A “single-phase” construction project — the $10 million option — would shorten up its timeline, Carter said, and would allow the contractor free access to the facility.

“The catch with this proposal is relocating inmates from the jail to another location,” he said.

The Youth Opportunity Center on Williams Drive was the most economical option Hooper, Stevens and Carter gave for housing inmates while the jail is under construction, coming in at an estimated $1.1 million to $2.1 million.

Another consideration was moving male inmates to Pelican Bay State Prison and female inmates to the Humboldt County Jail, which would cost an estimated $8.5 million, Carter said. That cost would include daily transportation to and from both facilities for court proceedings and medical appointments, he said.

Regardless of what option the Board of Supervisors approved, Stevens said the DNSO was still preparing to reduce the jail’s population. This included implementing a sheriff’s parole system using home detention, ankle monitors and a third-party risk assessment firm to determine if out-of-custody placement is appropriate. Stevens said the DNSO would also have to be able to bring that individual back into traditional custody if they were failing in the alternative sentencing placement.

The DNSO also has to figure out how to house adult inmates in a facility that only has three housing units compared to the jail’s 10 housing units. One consideration instead of using juvenile hall had been to isolate the jail population to the new side of the facility, which was built in the 1990s. This would allow for two additional housing units than what’s available at the jail, Stevens said, but not much more space.

“Plus all of the utilities we use in the rest of the jail — the visitation, the intake and all that — that would need to be reproduced out in the parking lot and we would have to give them that section of the jail to work in,” he said. 

Even if Del Norte didn’t move all of its adult inmates to Pelican Bay State Prison and the Humboldt County Jail, agreements with those entities would still be needed in case of overflow at juvenile hall, Stevens said.

While the workgroup managing the jail project looks to the next steps — which, according to Hooper, is a request for proposals for assistance in making sure the probation’s Juvenile Services Division is accommodated — Probation Chief Lonnie Reyman said he’s conflicted on how to approach the whole process.

“As chief probation officer with a juvenile division that has gone through very significant changes over the last several years, this is a big deal for us,” he said. “And I guess I would ask that you as a Board take that into consideration as we go through this process because frankly I don’t want my staff living out of a bag trying to do what they need to do for the kids and the community. I want there to be stability so they can step into their roles every day.”

Del Norte County shuttered its juvenile detention center in 2023, transforming the facility into the Youth Opportunity Center , which serves youth that are under formal supervision orders and those who are otherwise high risk.

Incarcerated youth are currently housed in the Humboldt, Mendocino or Shasta County juvenile detention facilities, though they are still booked into a detention facility from Del Norte County and must travel to the area for court hearings.

Reyman said probation’s Juvenile Services Division still needs a temporary detention facility.

“We need a place to hold youth securely both during arrest and also after transport when we’re bringing them back for court visits,” he said. “Some of the considerations the sheriff had to look at is if they were housing people out of county as well.”

The Del Norte County Jail was originally built in 1964 and was remodeled in the 1990s. According to Carter, the plan is to focus on remodeling housing pods A through C so that it’s a more open shared dormitory space. Other issues at the current facility include an old HVAC system, leaking windows, failing finishes and “furniture that has lived its life.”

Another improvement includes installing a new staffing station for improved visibility and a view down the holding area, Carter said.

At the encouragement of District 5 Supervisor Dean Wilson, Carter and Stevens said they would work on securing agreements with Pelican Bay and Humboldt County in case the inmate population being housed at juvenile hall would exceed capacity.

“Contracts with Humboldt, contracts with Pelican Bay, the alternative sentencing programs, all of that still needs to exist,” Stevens said. “What we’re trying to argue here is the best place to put the majority of our effort is at the juvenile hall.”