South Lake Tahoe jail set to get more crowded

By Heather Gould
As of October 1, nine new inmates have been incarcerated in the El Dorado County jail who would have previously gone to state prison. With the state short of funds and under a court mandate to relieve overcrowding in its state prisons, those committing non-violent, non-serious and non-sex offenses will be housed in county jails rather than state prisons under a program dubbed "realignment."

This means a projected increased cost in El Dorado County of $1, 210,643 to manage an estimated 68 new prisoners and 147 parolees and probationers over the next two years. That cost includes: two new half-time correctional officers at a cost of $108,274; seven new part-time probation office staffers at a cost of $354,544; new probation department supplies at a cost of $15,000; a caged vehicle at a cost of $28,000; a three-quarter time health education coordinator at a cost of $69,066; increased treatment programs costing $205,000; transitional housing and transportation at $25,000; enhanced local law enforcement at a cost of $50,000; and increased supplies and services at the jail of $355,759.

This initial cost was covered by the state which also awarded additional grants of $43,000 to be split between the district attorney and the public defender for increased court hearings, $85,425 to the county for start-up costs and $100,000 for developing the realignment plan.

In contrast, Los Angeles County, the largest in the state, will receive more than $112,000,000. Future state grants to the county for realignment are uncertain at this point. Eventually, under the measure passed by the California Legislature, the state will pay counties $20,000 per year per inmate as opposed to the $55,000 per year it costs to house an inmate in state prison. Even with more prisoners being housed in the counties, no state prisons will close as they are up to double their capacity in some cases.

El Dorado County has a total of 469 beds — 158 in Tahoe — of which only 320 were filled in the most recent year, leaving approximately 149 empty slots, enough to meet the projected increase. If, for some reason, the number of prisoners exceeds capacity, the sheriff's office has the authority to release certain prisoners and enroll them in alternative sentencing programs from home electronic monitoring to community service work. "We would take the least serious offenders and put them out," said Captain Craig Therkildsen, custody division manager for the sheriff's department.

Tahoe houses about 37 percent of the county's prisoners and will receive about 37 percent of the funds, said Therkildsen, though that number could change. Eventually, Therkildsen said, the county will treat both facilities as "one big jail." Prisoners may be moved back and forth depending on the population and the needs of both the sheriff's department and the inmates. For instance, a prisoner may be transferred to the other jail to take advantage of a program, such as addiction treatment or vocational training, not available at his or her original location.