SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – It’s the main lockup facility in North County and can house nearly 800 people.
But the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office’s Vista Detention Center is about 50 years old and well past its prime years. According to the Sheriff’s Office, it’s in major need of repairs.
“It does not surprise me that Sheriff Martinez is asking for a new facility in Vista,” Paul Parker said.
Parker is the former executive officer of the Citizens Law Enforcement Review Board, also known as CLERB. It’s the civilian investigative oversight group that investigates complaints against the Sheriff’s Office, including in-custody deaths at the jails.
“And quite frankly, with my almost 5 years of oversight experience, I believe that's a reasonable request,” Parker said.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, detention facilities were not constructed to accommodate the standards and level of care required for today's incarcerated population.
Documents filed with the County of San Diego cite a comprehensive study that recommended the Vista Detention Center be fully replaced.
“At the time, when it was presented to me in March, the cost estimates were around $1.2 billion to, the one that we preferred was, around $949 million. Costs go up every year. So, we anticipate that cost will go up before we’re able to get the contract and get that going,” Sheriff Kelly Martinez of San Diego County said.
But that’s just one area with millions more dollars needed to repair and maintain its other aging facilities.
“We need to replace failing HVAC and sewage system, and things like: continue with the ADA compliance. We have about $289 million in infrastructure needs, and that’s on top of the Vista amount,” Martinez said.
But the money has to come from somewhere. In those filed documents, a consultant said the county will have to work with the board of supervisors to either move money around to wholly or partly fund the Vista jail or think about putting a public safety bond measure on the 2026 ballot.
ABC 10News asked Martinez for her response to those who may not vote for a possible bond measure or want to see funding go to the Vista and other Jail updates
“Well, this is a really necessary need. It has to happen. There's a lot of lives that depend upon it. We book about 52,000 people a year into our jails. So the funding needs to be found. How that happens will be up to the board of supervisors in the county moving forward,” Martinez said.
Parker told ABC 10News that having a new facility would mean nothing if headway wasn’t being made to help those in custody.
“I think that the County should be looking at supporting anything that it can to reduce the number of deaths that are occurring in custody, to provide better service for the folks in the care and custody, and to make it a better environment for the deputies assigned to work there,” Parker said.
