VISTA (KGTV)- The San Diego County Sheriff's Office says the Vista Detention Facility has reached the end of its useful life and is looking to replace the aging jail, which was built in 1972.
Sheriff Kelly Martinez says a consultant was brought in to assess whether the facility could be renovated — and the findings pointed toward replacement.
"We had a consultant come and examine the jail and tell us whether we could um fix the insides, basically renovate it or what we needed to do, and the consultant came back and advised us that it's at the end of end of useful life," Martinez said.
The sheriff's office has held community forums to gather public input on what a new facility could look like.
"For the public to understand why we're doing it and the importance of it and the importance honestly of jails and the jail system," Martinez said.
The push for a new facility comes as the sheriff's office has faced scrutiny over conditions inside county jails. An independent study examined more than a decade of in-custody deaths due to overdoses, staffing challenges, and overcrowding.
Martinez said the new jail would help address some of the shortcomings identified in that study.
"One of the recommendations, was that there wasn't enough space that was conducive to psychiatric evaluations and medical evaluations, medical care, psychiatric care in our facilities. That's one thing that we will be able to address with the new jail. We've done some reconfiguring of the existing jail to try to accommodate those recommendations, but it's not enough," Martinez said.
Beyond space, Martinez said a new facility would allow the sheriff's office to take advantage of modern technology.
"The types of technology we have today, wireless systems and things like that through a cement wall. So we need things like body worn camera systems. We need things like better tech care and technology with our medical records," Martinez said.
No final plan has been approved. Sheriff's officials say community feedback gathered through the forums will help shape the future of the Vista jail.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
