San Diego County supervisors approved moving forward with renovations to the downtown Central Jail on Tuesday, agreeing to spend $26.5 million to upgrade plumbing, electrical and mechanical systems and to renovate the sleeping quarters.
The decision came on a unanimous vote at the recommendation of Sheriff Kelly Martinez, who has been under pressure to improve jail operations and reduce the number of deaths of people in her custody.
“Due to age, a substantial major systems renovation at SDCJ, including upgrades to critical building systems, is needed,” the sheriff’s report to the board said.
The repairs will begin after the county issues a formal request for construction bids and approves a single contractor to manage the full project, which also includes upgrades to the heating and air-conditioning, alarm, security and communications systems.
The Board of Supervisors approved the recommendation on what’s called the consent calendar, meaning there was no public discussion. The funding will come from the existing Sheriff’s Office budget.
The planned renovations to the Central Jail, the primary booking facility for people arrested in San Diego County, come as the Sheriff’s Office is facing a class-action lawsuit to improve its jail conditions and practices.
San Diego County also is defending a slew of civil litigation over deaths and injuries inside local jails.
This week, it was sued by the family of Brandon Yates, who was murdered in Central Jail after being placed in a cell with a violent man who was not supposed to have any cellmates.
At a press conference Tuesday, San Diego attorney Eugene Iredale called the Yates case “one of the ugliest deaths in our county jails” he had ever seen. Iredale and his law partner Julia Yoo have won millions of dollars from San Diego County representing people who were injured and the families of people who died in local jails.
A 2022 state audit found the county had one of the highest death rates among California jails. In the past six years, the county has paid more than $75 million to resolve litigation related to negligence and misconduct committed by sheriff’s deputies and jail medical staff.
Those legal settlements and jury awards do not come from the Sheriff’s Office budget. Instead, the payments come from the county general fund, reducing the amount of money available for parks, libraries, road improvements and other public services.
Meanwhile, San Diego County is defending a class-action lawsuit filed by civil-rights lawyers who want to force the Sheriff’s Office to upgrade all seven local jails and improve its practices inside the facilities.
The lawsuit, initially filed by former arrestee Darryl Dunsmore, already has prompted Martinez to pledge to make county jails compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. It also prompted the sheriff to agree to offer better interpretive services to people in custody who are hearing-impaired.
The Dunsmore litigation is moving forward in San Diego federal court. A hearing in the case is scheduled later next month.
The planned Central Jail renovation is the latest effort from Martinez to modernize the seven detention facilities she manages. In 2023, Martinez introduced a 10-year, nearly $500 million proposal to upgrade jails.
The initial upgrades were completed that same year on one wing of the Rock Mountain Detention Facility in Otay Mesa. The project was completed in July 2023 — years late and millions of dollars over budget — and up to 200 men were moved in.
No timeline was provided on the Central Jail renovations, although the planned construction project is expected to be advertised and awarded later this year.
Staff writer Kelly Davis contributed to this report.
