Sun, 25 Oct, 2026, 12:01 pm
Reported by San Diego Union-Tribune
San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez is requesting almost $11 million from the county Board of Supervisors to complete an ongoing renovation of the downtown Central Jail.
The contract that will be considered by supervisors Tuesday would raise the cost of the upgrade to $39.4 million. It would also help fulfill the sheriff’s long-standing pledge to upgrade the aging San Diego County jails.
Balfour Beatty Construction is already working on improvements to the Central Jail’s electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems, and officials said putting the work out to competitive bid would unnecessarily complicate the ongoing job.
Bringing in a new contractor “would result in additional disruption to detention operations, duplicative mobilization and coordination efforts, increased costs and delays to completion of the project,” the report to elected supervisors said.
The $10.8 million funding request is the latest effort by the sheriff to improve conditions in her jails, which for years were among the deadliest lockups in California and still do not meet national standards for corrections healthcare.
