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Three years after its grand opening, the Curtis J. Hill Rehabilitation Center, an extension to the San Benito County Jail, has been partially closed by the San Benito County Sheriff’s office. Corrections Commander Tom Corral said the move, which occurred June 20, was made in response to staffing shortages.
Corral said staffing the expanded jail created a challenge in safety for both correctional officers and inmates. All inmates have been transferred to the main facility, which was built in 1992 and has had long-standing issues with its ventilation and air conditioning system.
“If there’s a medical emergency or whatever I want to make sure that we can get there quickly and respond,” Corral said.
He said the medical room, classrooms, booking and intake area, and administration office in the extension building will remain open. The facility was completed in 2021 and cost $26 million. About $20 million of the project was funded by the state. It was originally estimated to cost $13 million.
The jail extension was constructed in response to Assembly Bill 109, the 2011 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Act, which aimed at reducing the population in state prisons. That law sent tens of thousands of inmates classified as “non-violent, non-serious inmates, including non-high-risk sex offenders” to county jails.
Corral said inmates cannot be moved to the Hill Rehabilitation Center building, which has 72 beds in three dorms, because of the capacity. “It just wouldn’t work,” he said. Though the old jail can house 142 inmates, and the average daily inmate population at the jail is 100, problems remain.
The jail has been in the public spotlight following an inmate escape in May. Daniel Lopez Zavala escaped from the old facility and was apprehended about 30 hours later.
While putting all inmates in one facility addresses concerns with coverage, it presents challenges, Corral said. One concern involves separating the female population, as well as rival gang members, inmates with certain charges, and others that may have conflicts with each other.
Another challenge is meeting the staffing required to continue offering educational programs and medical care. For those services, Corral said, staff are pulled away to escort inmates to classrooms and doctor’s appointments.
“Everybody is filling the need whenever it comes up,” Corral said. “It’s challenging but we’re working through it because we want to maintain those programs.”
Finding the right candidates
Corral said he needs to double his jail staffing to provide coverage for both facilities.
But he repeated what he previously told BenitoLink—that recruiting has been extremely difficult. At the county’s June 25 budget hearing, Sheriff Eric Taylor told San Benito County Supervisors he had 14 correction officers working.
On July 22, Corral told BenitoLink his staffing was now three sergeants and 17 correctional officers. He said two of the correctional officers were assigned for transportation, leaving him with 15 staff for jail operations. He said he still had two officers on leave and an another on light duty.
Taylor told the supervisors that his priority at this time is providing higher wages in order to retain the staff.
He said the California Board of State and Community Corrections “walked through the jail” and said a “minimum” of 40 correctional officers would be required for its proper operation.
Corral said while candidates are applying for the jobs, it’s “extremely challenging” for them to make it all the way through the hiring process.
The process includes a written test; a physical and agility test; an oral interview; a background check; an interview with the sheriff, corrections commander and undersheriff; and a medical and psychological test. He said if a candidate goes through the process smoothly, it can take three to four months to complete.
Having someone make it through the process still doesn’t guarantee the candidate will accept the job offer or stay long-term.
“We recruited and brought a talented young man into the office,” Taylor told the supervisors. “He got his first paycheck and quit on the spot.”
He added the officer went back to a previous job with a cellular provider because it paid more.
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