After years of seeing jail space lost to budget cuts, Fresno County administrators say they have the money to reopen the last of three shuttered jail floors.
Opening the floor would bring the 3,478-person lockup to within 200 beds of capacity, a huge upgrade from two years ago when just 2,000 beds were in use at the downtown facility.
"We'll be able to hold more people that need to be in jail," said Sheriff Margaret Mims, who has long struggled with too little jail space and now regularly releases dozens of criminals early each day.
County administrators this week earmarked $3 million to reopen 432 beds in January through the end of the fiscal year in June. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to approve the expenditure Tuesday.