CHAPTER 2. County Jails [4497.02. - 4497.16.]

Cal. Penal Code - PEN 2.

in effect

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4497.02. Section 4497.02.

(a) For the purpose of this chapter: (1) “Board” means the Board of Corrections. (2) “Fund” means the 1988 County Correctional Facilities Capital Expenditure and Youth Facility Fund. (b) The Board of Corrections shall not itself be deemed a responsible agency, as defined by Section 21069 of the Public Resources Code, or otherwise be subject to the California Environmental Quality Act for any activities under this title, the County Jail Capital Expenditure Bond Acts of 1981 or 1984, or the County Facility Capital Expenditure Bond Act of 1986. This subdivision does not exempt any local agency from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4497.04. Section 4497.04.

Money appropriated to the board for allocation pursuant to this chapter shall be allocated as follows: (a) Funding shall be provided for those projects entitled to be funded under subdivision (c) of Section 3 of Chapter 444, Statutes of 1984, as amended, and Section 5 of Chapter 1519, Statutes of 1986, to the extent that those projects have not received full funding. (b) The following additional amounts shall be allocated to the counties for the construction, reconstruction, replacement, or renovation of county jail facilities. These funds shall not be used to supplant local funds directed to previously approved state projects. Nor shall these funds be used to reimburse counties whose match on previously approved projects exceeded the required 25 percent. These funds may be used for allocations specified in subdivisions (c) and (d) of Chapter 444, Statutes of 1984, as amended, and Section 5, subdivision (b) of Chapter 1519, Statutes of 1986. County Allocation Alameda $ 6,441,198 Alpine 62,541 Amador 0 Butte 1,900,266 Calaveras 0 Colusa 0 Contra Costa 1,420,488 Del Norte 1,317,106 El Dorado 0 Fresno 4,326,606 Glenn 732,094 Humboldt 2,116,523 Imperial 0 Inyo 1,214,025 Kern 9,650,404 Kings 891,687 Lake 1,699,291 Lassen 727,717 Los Angeles 172,682,741 Madera 0 Marin 2,166,458 Mariposa 117,478 Mendocino 1,214,270 Merced 2,446,318 Modoc 181,761 Mono 120,421 Monterey 7,429,146 Napa 358,819 Nevada 1,179,930 Orange 21,723,387 Placer 2,022,123 Plumas 166,775 Riverside 10,476,076 Sacramento 6,299,898 San Benito 1,270,642 San Bernardino 10,874,718 San Diego 32,675,959 San Francisco 17,015,321 San Joaquin 12,377,292 San Luis Obispo 2,033,185 San Mateo 2,452,925 Santa Barbara 2,438,604 Santa Clara 11,780,710 Santa Cruz 2,889,829 Shasta 0 Sierra 119,234 Siskiyou 0 Solano 1,125,732 Sonoma 3,877,521 Stanislaus 3,649,178 Sutter 964,137 Tehama 532,947 Trinity 225,380 Tulare 2,513,889 Tuolumne 677,876 Ventura 14,733,637 Yolo 686,721 Yuba 1,844,691 TOTAL $387,845,675 (c) If any county declares that it is unable to use the funds allocated to it under this section, or if any county is unable to satisfy the prerequisites for funding listed in Section 4494.10, the amount allocated to the county in this section shall revert to the state, to be reallocated by the board. (d) If funds beyond those needed for the itemized amounts become available for reallocation, the board shall reallocate those funds under subdivision (e). (e) Reverted funds under this chapter or subdivision (c) of Chapter 1519 of the Statutes of 1986 shall be reallocated to counties pursuant to the development and adoption of a new allocation plan as determined by an allocation advisory committee appointed by the board. The allocation advisory committee shall convene upon notification by the board that funds have been reverted. Reallocated funds shall be distributed three times. The first distribution shall occur on December 31, 1990; the second distribution shall occur on December 31, 1992, and the final distribution shall occur on December 31, 1993. If any county seeking funds has not completed architectural drawings at the time reallocation funds become available, the county shall be removed from reallocation consideration until it has completed architectural drawings. (f) Any county that receives funds pursuant to this chapter or pursuant to Chapter 444 of the Statutes of 1984, as amended, or Chapter 1519 of the Statutes of 1986, that, in the aggregate, total ten million dollars ($10,000,000) or less may pool or combine those funds for the purpose of financing a jail construction project, subject to approval of the project pursuant to this chapter. However, under no circumstances shall the pooling of successive bond allocations relieve or exempt the county from its obligation to meet the 25 percent local match requirement. This subdivision shall not be interpreted as an authorization to utilize allocated funds to reimburse counties whose match on previously approved and completed projects exceeded the required 25 percent.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4497.05. Section 4497.05.

Money in the 1986 County Correctional Facility Capital Expenditure Fund and money in the 1988 County Correctional Facility Capital Expenditure and Youth Facility Bond Fund may be used on the same project so long as the project is consistent with the purposes set forth in Sections 4485 and 4496.12 and is subject to the restrictions and requirements set forth in subdivision (f) of Section 4497.04. The deadlines applicable under this title shall be applicable to the joint use of funds under this section.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4497.06. Section 4497.06.

(a) The board shall administer the funds allocated in this chapter to adult jail facilities, according to existing County Correctional Facilities Capital Expenditure Fund regulations, except as those regulations may be amended to comply with the provisions of this chapter. (b) The board shall apply its regulations in the approval or disapproval of county jail projects, except that the board may approve a project if the board finds, after conducting a public hearing, that although the county cannot possibly meet the regulations, the county will nonetheless comply with Section 4485.6.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4497.08. Section 4497.08.

No state moneys shall be encumbered in contracts with a county, nor released to a county, for construction or renovation of a local jail facility pursuant to this chapter until the conditions of this chapter have been fulfilled by the county.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4497.10. Section 4497.10.

To be eligible for funding consideration, a county shall, to the satisfaction of the board, do all of the following: (a) Certify that juveniles are not housed in the county’s adult detention facilities, except where authorized by law, and document the existence of, or plans for, separate housing for juveniles. (b) Document the existence of, or plans for, separate housing for persons detained or arrested because of intoxication, which will prevent mixing of this category of prisoner with other prisoners. If the county has no existing provisions for detoxification housing, it shall make provisions for that housing as part of its proposed project. (c) Document the existence of, or plans for, separate housing for defendants or convicted prisoners with mental health disorders, which will prevent mixing of this category of prisoner with other prisoners until the time that the responsible health authority or the health authority’s designee clears specific prisoners for nonseparate housing, based on clinical judgment. If the county has no existing provisions for separate housing of prisoners with mental health disorders, it shall make provisions for that housing as part of its proposed project. (d) (1) Submit a formal project proposal to the board on or before September 30, 1990. The project proposal shall describe the construction or renovation project to be undertaken and shall include an estimated budget for the project. The proposal shall also identify how county funding obligations, both for construction and operation of the facility, will be met. The project proposal shall be consistent with the needs and priorities identified in the needs assessment by the county. (2) Failure to submit a project proposal shall be deemed a declaration by the county that it does not intend to request its allocation under subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 4497.04, and the amounts allocated in those subdivisions to the county shall be available for reallocation by the board. The board may waive this requirement for submission of a proposal within one year if it determines there are unavoidable delays in the county’s preparation of a project proposal. (e) Submit architectural drawings that shall be approved by the board for compliance with minimum jail standards and by the State Fire Marshal for compliance with fire safety requirements. If the board concludes that a county’s proposed construction or renovation contains serious design deficiencies that, while they would not require a refusal to enter into the contract, would seriously impair the facility’s functioning, it shall notify the sheriff and the board of supervisors of that county of the deficiencies and shall delay entering into a contract with the county for at least 30 days after mailing the letter. This letter shall be a public record. (f) The county shall certify that it owns, or has long-term possession of, the construction site. (g) The county shall have filed a final notice of determination on its environmental impact report with the board. (h) The county has formally adopted a plan to finance the construction of the proposed facility. (i) The county shall have submitted a preliminary staffing plan for the proposed facility, along with an analysis of other operating costs anticipated for the facility, to the board for review and comment. Prior to submission of the staffing plan and operating costs analysis of the board, the county board of supervisors shall have reviewed and approved the submittal in or following public hearings. The sheriff shall also have reviewed and commented on the preliminary staffing plan and the operating cost analysis. The board shall comment in writing to the sheriff and board of supervisors. This letter shall be a public record. (j) (1) The county shall submit either a major or minor needs assessment documenting the need for and purpose of the proposed project. The needs assessment shall meet all requirements listed in the applicable County Correctional Facility Capital Expenditure Fund regulations. The board may exempt a county from performing a new needs assessment if any of the following conditions exist: (A) The board determines that a prior needs assessment is in substantial compliance and it justifies the project being funded in Section 4497.04. (B) A county receives funds from this bond act in an amount of three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) or less. (2) If exempted from performing a needs assessment, counties shall provide an analysis of specific jail deficiencies, including levels of security, program, including, but not limited to, medical and mental health care, housing, and administration. This analysis shall also include specific plans for correcting the deficiencies. (k) (1) Demonstrate to the board, unless the county’s sole project is a remodel of an existing adult detention facility that will not result in the addition of any beds, that it is using, to the greatest extent feasible, alternatives to incarceration based on the following measures: (A) An incarceration rate of no more than one standard deviation above the mean for all counties. (B) Either a pretrial misdemeanor incarceration rate of no more than one standard deviation above the mean for all counties or a sentenced prisoner alternatives percentage or 5 percent or more as related to total sentenced prisoner admissions. (2) (A) The data to be used in establishing the incarceration rate will be the 1989 calendar year average daily population as reported by each county to the board and the Department of Finance Report on Population by County. (B) The pretrial misdemeanor incarceration rate will be based on an average of the daily pretrial misdemeanor jail population, developed from a four-day sample period in 1989 specified by the board. (C) The sentenced prisoner alternatives percentage will be based on enrollment in three programs: Section 4024.2 of the Penal Code (work-in-lieu of jail), county parole, and home detention if the placement is made after some jail time is served. (D) Counties failing to demonstrate adequate use of alternatives to incarcerations by the above measure by March 30, 1990, shall be reevaluated annually by the board. If any county is unable to satisfy the requirements of this section by September 30, 1993, the amount allocated to the county shall revert to the state, to be reallocated by the board pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 4497.04. ( l ) Begin construction or renovation work within four years of the effective date of this title. If a county fails to meet this requirement, any allocations to the county under this chapter shall be deemed void and moneys allocated to the county shall revert to the board for reallocation. The board may waive this requirement if it determines that there are unavoidable delays in the initial construction activities. (m) Counties shall provide for the construction of appropriate courtroom facilities and hearing room facilities within any jail construction plan submitted to the board. Those courtroom facilities and hearing room facilities shall be utilized for purposes of holding appropriate arraignments and bail hearings and for the conduct of parole revocation hearings. The board may waive this requirement where county specific circumstances dictate.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4497.12. Section 4497.12.

(a) County match on projects funded under this chapter shall be a minimum of 25 percent of the total project costs. (b) The county match requirement imposed upon counties pursuant to the receipt of state moneys shall not be required to be made on a pro rata basis where the requirement would impede the expeditious and equitable construction of county correctional facilities. However, under no circumstances shall the county match for any county project be less than 25 percent. (c) Costs eligible for state funding and as county match shall be those defined in applicable existing sections of the County Correctional Facilities Capital Expenditure Fund regulations, which regulations may be amended.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4497.14. Section 4497.14.

(a) The board shall not approve the expenditures of funds allocated under this act for the construction of county detention facilities until a master site plan for county detention facilities has been prepared and adopted by the board of supervisors of the county proposing to construct the facility. The board of supervisors shall determine the location of any detention facilities pursuant to a master plan, which determination shall not be subject to any initiative or ordinance adopted by initiative. In developing the plan, the board of supervisors shall consider alternatives to additional detention facilities and the specific concerns of incorporated cities and other community representatives, and shall give special consideration to existing federal, state, and local detention facilities in order to avoid over-concentration of inmates in one geographic area of the county. If the board of supervisors decides to locate new or expanded detention facilities near existing detention facilities, it shall publicly state its reasons for that decision. The board shall only approve expenditure of funds allocated under this chapter for the construction of detention facilities in accordance with the plan adopted pursuant to this section. The board may exempt a county from this requirement if the master site plan remains unchanged from that approved under the provisions of the County Correctional Facilities Capital Expenditure Bond Act of 1986. (b) The board shall establish construction costs controls and shall set forth in regulation procedures for setting maximum state funding levels for appropriate construction unit costs, including cost per cell for specified categories of facilities. These cost controls shall be based on average costs in recently constructed facilities in California that are comparable in size, use, location, and other relevant factors. Allocations listed in Section 4497.04 notwithstanding, the state contribution shall be up to 75 percent of total project costs or up to 75 percent of the applicable construction cost norms, whichever is lower. Nothing in this section is intended, however, to prescribe maximum limits on county funding levels for the projects. Prior to releasing any funds to a county, the board shall review construction cost levels in the funded projects for compliance with cost control regulations. (c) Prior to entering into a contract with a county, the board shall review or approve or both review and approve the county submissions required by this chapter regarding the facility or facilities proposed for funding. (d) The board shall collect annually from all counties information on county incarceration rates, average daily jail populations as a proportion of the total county population or total arrests or both; pretrial misdemeanant ratios, the percentage which unsentenced prisoners charged only with misdemeanors constitute the total average daily unsentenced jail population; and sentenced alternatives ratios, for example, average daily populations in work-in-lieu of jail programs and county parole as a percentage of the total average daily sentenced misdemeanant prisoner population. All counties that have received or will receive state funds for jail construction shall supply the board the information necessary to comply with this section.

Cal. Penal Code - PEN § 4497.16. Section 4497.16.

If after a hearing, the board makes a finding that a county has failed to comply with a condition or plan approved by the board relating to the requirements of Section 4485.6, the board may require the county to pay an amount equal to the pro rata portion of the principal and interest, paid by the state on bonds the proceeds of which were allocated pursuant to this chapter to the county for the period of noncompliance. The repayment provisions shall not be applicable if the noncompliance with the condition or plan is the result of circumstances beyond the control of the county, or the board finds the county cannot reasonably comply under the circumstances.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026