History of Sacramento County Jail Expansion
Written by James J. Jackson, Jr.
The Sacramento County Jail towers over downtown on the corner of 6th and I streets, a brutalist monument to the incompetence, corruption, and cruelty of Sacramento’s Sheriff’s Department. Within its walls, thousands of inmates live in squalor- the vast majority of which haven’t even had their trial or been convicted of anything at all.
California: The State of Incarceration - Sacramento Couty
Since opening, horror stories about the jail’s disgusting conditions and deputies abusing inmates have circulated consistently. So far in 2026 alone, the department has paid over $2 million in settlements to 3 inmates' families for wrongful deaths.
And yet despite a noted history of abuse and mismanagement, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors (BOS) recently came very close to throwing away nearly $1 billion dollars to expand the jail.
So how did we get here, you ask?
The Sacramento County Jail at 651 I Street opened in 1989. According to an anonymous planning analyst who worked on the original project as a subcontractor, the Sheriff’s Department immediately filled the jail beyond its originally designed capacity by nearly doubling the amount of beds intended for the space and worsening living conditions for inmates.
From 1990 to the early 2000s, a series of federal laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, were passed. These laws required all public facilities, including jails, to become accessible and offer accommodations to those with mental or physical illnesses.
Meanwhile, the “War on Crime”, first started by President Johnson and expanded upon by each president ever since, led to a steady rise in incarceration at all levels - especially in local jurisdictions. Everyone reading this knows what a resounding success the War on Crime has been.
In 2015, the Black Lives Matter Movement ignited and for the first time in years the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department came under intense public scrutiny. That same year, Disability Rights California (DRC) and the Prison Law Office (PLO) demanded an investigation of Sacramento County’s jails.
In 2018, plans to expand the Sacramento County Jail were negotiated and presented the BOS. That same year, DRC and PLO filed a class action lawsuit against the county regarding the jail’s appalling conditions, primarily regarding its medical facilities and the department’s abusive practices.
In 2020, a settlement to this lawsuit was reached known as the Mays Decree, dictating that Sacramento’s two jail facilities, and the county moved forward with the jail expansion under the guise that it will accommodate the settlement's demands for improved medical facilities.
Keep in mind however, that according to our whistleblower they also promised not to fill the jail beyond capacity when it first opened.
In 2022, the BOS began planning to build a new jail annex with a projected cost of approximately $89 million paid for mostly through bonds, and entered into negotiations with architectural firm Nacht and Lewis about the multi million dollar project. Meanwhile, a 2023 article by the Sacramento Bee revealed the jail continuously violated the Mays Decree despite promises the project would bring the jail up to code.
In 2025, the Anti Police Terror Project (APTP) and Decarcerate Sacramento (DS), with the support of other organizations and community members, mobilized against the expansion. After hours upon hours of public inquiries and comments, the BOS voted 4-1 to suspend the project. Most of the Supervisors, such as Supervisors Kennedy and Desmond, had previously supported the jail expansion. The one vote against suspending it was then BOS chair Phil Serna.
The pressure that APTP, DS, and the community mounted on the BOS that led to this vote flip suggests a massive change in public opinion about incarceration and policing. But the BOS did not suddenly grow a social conscience; It’s far more likely that the fiduciary impact of the project flipped the supervisors votes. Independent audits of the project revealed that the new annex would have little to no impact on reducing the number of inmates, that the staff needed to manage the facility would not meet the needs of patients, and that the projected cost of the project was likely to cost nearly $1 billion, well above the initial estimates of $89 million.
While it is a good thing the county narrowly avoided this financial debacle, it is an even better thing that the Sheriff’s department did not receive yet another avenue by which to abuse inmates.
As previously mentioned, what goes on in those facilities could be the subject of a horror film. Court ordered investigations of the Sacramento Sheriff’s department and the jail reveal a disgustingly extensive history of negligence and abuse that goes well beyond unclean conditions.
The list of offenses includes inmates being denied showers and basic sanitary needs, inmates with mental health needs being denied clothing, constant beatings and forced isolation, neglecting patients with medical needs, and sexual harassment against both inmates and other deputies. This is only a fraction of their known offenses.
Again, most of the people suffering these abuses are STILL AWAITING TRIAL, meaning that they haven't even been convicted of anything yet.
So if the department is so abusive and incompetent, why was the county so close to throwing away $1 billion dollars at their behest? How could this possibly be sold as something that benefits anyone in Sacramento County, other than sadistic corrections officers?
Obviously, the annex would have represented more resources for the Sheriff’s department, as well as a new channel by which to hide illicit use of public funding.
But the architectural firm Nichet and Lewis also stood to make millions on the project as its primary contractor.
As of now, the project remains suspended until the end of this year and is currently undergoing 3rd party review with $2 million set aside by the county for a jail construction reserve fund. Jackie Williams, marketing manager of Nicht and Lewis, offered no comment about the project's future and referred me to the County. No member of the Board of Supervisors replied to requests for comment, nor has the Sheriff’s Department.
According to sources from APTP and DS, the County is now exploring options related to the possibility of resuming expansion or building new jail facilities. Consultants from Health Management Associates and members of the Public Safety And Justice Agency Advisory Committee are reported to be heavily involved in the process. Decarcerate Sacramento has been organizing for community involvement around county requests for public input.
A report from third party consultants is likely to come out at the end of the year, with public talks about the project likely to resume afterward. DS and APTP is encouraging community members opposed to building new jails to get involved with the community input process, because some still want to advocate for the expansion project or building an additional jail.
But while the expansion project is in limbo, the Sheriff’s Department faces further cuts and scrutiny. The BOS is poised to vote on a new budget that includes the possibility of over $13 million and 48 paid positions being cut from the department. Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper continues to make threats that the lower budget will force him to gut programs like his homeless outreach team and his river response teams, aka, the people who conduct sweeps on homeless camps.
Aside from the fact that this budget cut is negligible compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars they still receive, it also would not affect staffing in jails because that staff is mandated, we know we have alternatives. We know we can do better.
Trusting the Sheriff with funds that are impossible to trace or audit does nothing to improve public safety. Traffic infractions and investigative services do not need an armed force taking the lead. Mental health professionals and social workers with several years of experience are better suited for handling wellness checks than armed deputies with dubious training and zero accountability.
Perhaps instead of repeatedly sending law enforcement out to sweep and harass the unhoused, maybe we could use some of their $700M budget and put it towards providing housing for those in need.
Those who support abolition of the carceral state must stay aware of county projects and underhanded moves by Sheriff Cooper to take as much money as possible out of the public pot.
We are likely to see movement on jail updates as the deadlines for the third party reviews approach. Keep your eyes peeled.
