Finishing touches
New $51M Tuolumne County jail nearly ready for inmates
Final completion is anticipated by the end of the month on Tuolumne County’s new $51 million jail at the Law and Justice Center off Old Wards Ferry Road in Sonora.
The 230-bed facility, dubbed the Sheriff J.H. “Jack” Dambacher Detention Center, has been in the works for more than 20 years and broke ground in February 2018.
“This has been a long haul,” said Deputy County Administrator Maureen Frank, who has managed the project for much of its development.
After the full completion, the Sheriff’s Office will have 90 days to move the inmates into the new facility from the existing one on Yaney Avenue in downtown Sonora.
Jail Operations Sgt. Eric Roberts said the majority of the 90 days will be spent training staff in the new facility, some of which will include learning of operations of the electronic door controls and surveillance cameras.
“In the old jail, civilian staff control the operation of the electronic doors,” he said, “and in the new jail, all housing doors will be controlled by Sheriff’s custody staff.”
Roberts estimated it will take two days to complete the transfer of inmates from the old facility when the time comes, though an exact date has yet to be announced.
The existing 147-bed county jail on Yaney Avenue was constructed in 1960 and expanded several times over the ensuing decades, but grand juries and California officials have long criticized it as overcrowded, unsafe and put the county at risk of a lawsuit.
Frank said the new jail will open at a maximum capacity of 150 inmates despite having room for 230 in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced correctional facilities throughout the state to reduce population.
Another reason is that the Sheriff’s Office voluntarily froze six jail positions in the current fiscal year’s county budget to help avoid other cuts from a financial crisis in part caused by the pandemic.
Construction on the jail was originally anticipated for completion by October last year, but was pushed back several months due to change orders and weather delays.
Frank said the project was further delayed by the pandemic due to construction crews needing time to figure out new safety protocols in March and delays in receiving some materials from other places around the world.
“It was mandatory that masks were worn by anyone who came to the site, including all the workers and try as much as possible to socially distance,” she said. “At times, that’s really hard when you’re talking about construction work.”
Despite the delays, Frank said the county still has about 13 percent left from $2 million set aside for contingencies and anticipates using all of it.
Frank said the final cost of construction, which was nearly $40 million when the county signed the contract with the Fresno-based Harris Construction Co. Inc. in November 2017, is still under negotiation.
“We’ll probably be close to budget, but I just don’t know where we’re going to be because all the final bills haven’t come in yet,” she said. “We’re still in the negotiation process with the contractor.”
The county applied for a grant from
the state in 2009 to build the jail, which had been discussed for at least 10 years before that, but only received partial funding and gave the money back.
In 2015, the county applied for another grant and received about $20 million.
Frank said county officials including former County Supervisor Randy Hanvelt, current County Supervisor Karl Rodefer, former County Administrator Craig Pedro, and herself negotiated with the state to get additional $13 million.
The other $18 million from the project’s total cost came from lease-revenue bonds that the county will pay back over 30 years.
A grand-opening ceremony is tentatively slated for later this month, but Frank said they still have to determine an exact date and how it will be hosted to the pandemic.