A spokesperson for the Santa Rita Jail has confirmed that they will soon begin to house inmates from Monterey County.

The motion was approved by the Monterey County board of supervisors.  The $2.5 million contract will allow up to 80 detainees to be transferred to the Dublin facility.  The agreement is scheduled to expire in June of next year.  The ACLU has said they are angered that community meetings were not held prior to this decision being made.

The supervisors said the contract will be funded through state realignment money.   California legislators have granted large sums of money to county jails in order to help them offset additional expenses that have been brought on by the realignment.  Under that program certain state prisoners have started being transferred to county detention facilities to serve out their sentences.  This has caused quite a bit of strain on the local level and many jails are scrambling to deal with the additional capacity.

The cost to house Monterey inmates at the Santa Rita Jail will run from $85 to $125 per day.  The daily cost, according to elected officials, will be determined by how many inmates are transferred.  Most of those who will be transferred will be those who are serving longer sentences.   Monterey County Sheriff Scott Miller said that the Santa Rita Jail offers more inmate programs than jails within his county and that this makes the Alameda facility quite suitable.

Some have said they believe the transfer is unfair because it puts inmates farther away from their families.  Members of the sheriff's department have pointed out that were it not for the realignment these detainees would be serving time in state prison.  That facility is more than 90 minutes farther than the Santa Rita Jail.

Monterey County will reportedly receive about $12 million in realignment funds this year.  The bulk of those monies have been allocated toward inmate transportation and housing.  The $2.5 million needed to fund the Alameda contract will come out of that piece of the pie.  The probation department is slighted to receive approximately $3 million.   This department has been charged with monitoring inmates who have been released via electronic monitoring devices and other related forms of post-release supervision.

Smaller portions of the budget have been allocated toward rehabilitative programs.  The ACLU and other critics have said they feel more money should be spent on programs that would reduce recidivism rates.   They also believe that Monterey could be doing more to reduce its inmate population as opposed to finding different places to house detainees.

The matter is ongoing.