The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors has approved a $167 million jail expansion, framing the project as a necessary response to an Americans with Disabilities Act lawsuit filed years ago.
County leaders argue that the expansion is required to bring the jail into compliance and improve conditions for incarcerated individuals with disabilities.
While the ADA needs are clear, the number of beds needed for the expansion is under debate.
Here is a question our community should be asking:
We can finance a $167 million for more jail infrastructure, why can’t we find the resources to create the treatment beds that would keep many people with serious mental illness out of jail in the first place?
While policymakers point to ADA compliance as a reason to build more jail space, the reality inside the jail tells a different story.
Individuals experiencing psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other serious psychiatric disabilities often remain incarcerated for weeks or months while waiting for placement in a psychiatric treatment program. Their conditions are often worsened by the incarceration setting.
The contradiction is impossible to ignore and raises a fundamental question about public investment.
When will we invest in evidence based programs that actually rehabilitate, instead of the revolving-door incarceration?
It does nothing to address the underlying failure that has turned county jails into de facto mental health institutions.
If incarceration is the answer, why do the same people keep coming back?
During the presentation of the expansion project we heard “ more humane” more than a few times. Wouldn’t it be more humane to not criminalize our most vulnerable population and prioritize affordable housing and psychiatric treatment beds?
At the end of the day, we can frame the expansion as more “humane,” but it is still a jail.
ADA compliance is important. Every person deserves humane and accessible conditions. But compliance should be the floor, not the ceiling, of our ambitions.
Since the decision to expand the jail passed unanimously, we must ensure that people with disabilities who are awaiting transfer to a higher level of care receive priority attention.
These individuals require specialized treatment to address the symptoms and impacts of their disabilities. Failing to do so risks another year of noncompliance with the state, potentially resulting in additional fines and costing taxpayers millions more on top of the $167 million already being spent on this expansion project.
“History will not judge us by how efficiently we expanded our jails. It will judge us by how we treated our most vulnerable. The question before us is simple: when given the choice between cages and care, why do we keep choosing cages?”
Gina Rodarte Quiroz is a community advocate, policy consultant, and Families ACT board member.
