Governor's Prison Plan May Be Too Little Too Late
MARTINEZ - Sitting in his sterile office within the secured walls of County Jail, sheriff's Cmdr. Joseph Caruso ponders the future of detention in Contra Costa.
He leans back, looks to the ceiling, then snaps forward and knocks on his wooden desk.
"We're all eagerly waiting to see what happens with the state prison system -- we don't know what's going to be the resolve," Caruso said. "If we had a two-week period where we couldn't send (inmates) to state prison, we would not have enough beds."
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's $10.9 billion plan to alleviate California's prison overcrowding will undoubtedly impact Contra Costa County with the proposed shift of state prisoners back to local jails. The plan calls for money for the construction of much-needed county jail space, but it has not fully addressed the additional operational costs. MALAIKA FRALEY in The Contra Costa Times