Porterville Jail Plans Move Forward

Tulare County Super­vi­sors are tak­ing steps to han­dle jail over­crowd­ing. Tues­day they approved con­tracts to build a new jail in Porter­ville. The facil­ity will house over 500 inmates. Build­ing it will cost almost $70 mil­lion. Most of that will be paid by the state. Although, Tulare County is on the hook for almost $8 mil­lion. Although offi­cials say build­ing the new jail will actu­ally cre­ate sav­ings in the long run. Cur­rently, Tulare county spends about $500,000 a year for jail-related transportation.