Jail expansion spending may mean good news for rehab programs

Wednesday’s meeting focused on finding a way to spend wisely in order to keep people out of jail and rehabilitate those who are already there.

“I really think for the first time in the history of Salinas there’s a lot of community engagement being developed,” said resident Raul Damien Tapia, who attended the meeting.

Monterey County Sheriff Scott Miller described how some of the money will be spent.

“We’ll have classroom space where they get life skills, training and such, and we’ll have space where they can do vocational training and learn how to use computers and things of that nature,” Miller said.

Miller went on to say, “The Sheriff’s Office receives some, we use much of that for transferring inmates to Alameda County for housing because of our overcrowded facility and the rest goes to probation to supervise inmates and the other part of that goes to treatment rehabilitated programs.”

Many attendants felt this meeting was a step in the right direction.

“We can make a change together to help previously incarcerated individuals both men and women and how we can actually begin the process of change within the jail system starting yesterday,” said Tapia at the end of the meeting.

The hope, in the end, is that the budget spending benefits everyone in the community for the long run.