County Jail Population Spikes Post-Proposition 36

The number of people held in county jails has ticked up since police countywide began enforcing crimes tied to Proposition 36, a state initiative aimed at cracking down on repeat drug and theft offenders. 

The county sheriff’s office reported Friday that 511 of the 4,263 people held in San Diego County jails had Proposition 36 charges, making up 12 percent of the population. 

Assistant Sheriff Dustin Lopez said daily jail counts began rising by 1 percent to 2 percent a month after law enforcement agencies across the region started enforcing Proposition 36 in mid-December. Lopez said the daily share of people held with Proposition 36 charges has ranged from 5 percent to 12 percent of the jail population since January.  

The past four years, the sheriff’s office reports that its average tally of people in its custody has hovered around 3,900. By mid-August, Lopez said county jails saw a peak of 4,456 people in custody.  

From January through September, the agency has reported an average of 315 Proposition 36 bookings a month. A Voice of San Diego analysis of sheriff’s office data showed those bookings contributed to a net average of 238 additional monthly jail bookings the first nine months of 2025 compared to last year. 

The spike in the jail population has coincided with an ongoing wave of concerns about county jail deaths, especially among people struggling with addiction and mental health challenges. 

In San Diego County, more than three quarters of Proposition 36 arrests have been on drug charges, amplifying concerns among advocates who were already alarmed about jail deaths. 

Supporters of Proposition 36 argued the voter-approved Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act would connect repeat drug offenders with treatment to avoid jail time and a felony record now triggered with at least three drug offenses. 

District Attorney Summer Stephan was among the state’s foremost advocates for Proposition 36. Her office noted last week that it takes time for cases to progress and get to a decision point where defendants can opt to seek treatment to bypass jail time. Stephan’s office reported last week that defendants in about 97 percent of Proposition 36 cases that reached that point elected to seek treatment. 

Yet it’s unclear how many have obtained it or how successful they have been. The Union-Tribune recently reported that Proposition 36 offenders are usually forced to navigate finding treatment on their own.  

What is clearer than treatment outcomes: Proposition 36 has led to an increase in the number of people – many of whom are struggling with addiction – flowing into and staying in county jails.  

Lopez said the Proposition 36 population has more significant health challenges – both physical and behavioral – that are straining the jail system. 

“Some of people haven’t seen a doctor in 10 to 15 years for any medical needs,” Lopez said. “Their health is in obviously poor condition.” 

Lopez said the sheriff’s office has increased intake screening processes to better identify people with addiction and other health challenges who need more care and has recently seen enrollment in its medication-assisted treatment program that helps participants minimize drug cravings climbed 25 percent. 

The assistant sheriff said the influx of Proposition 36 offenders with health conditions landing in county jails has also led to a surge in instances where deputies are forced to take people in jail to local hospitals, where deputies monitor them while they receive medical care. That means deputies must often leave county jails for extended periods, leaving jails with less supervision absent staffing and overtime shifts the sheriff’s office says it’s increasingly relying on. 

Proposition 36 offenders also aren’t necessarily avoiding time behind bars, a key goal of the initiative. While Lopez said 40 percent of Proposition 36 defendants were released within the first five days of their arrests, he said longer stays for people who missed court appearances, faced other charges or whose cases came with other complications mean offenders are spending an average of just under a month in custody. 

Branden Sigua, senior policy advocate for the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, said Proposition 36 has driven more incarceration and put more vulnerable San Diegans at risk without certainty they’ll received the care and treatment they need.  

“Jails were never built to sustain this level of people with a health crisis,” Sigua said. “Funneling more people into a jail system specifically for the purposes of connecting them with treatment – people with more health issues and people who by virtue of their age who will have more health conditions – jails were not built to serve those people.” 

For now, the sheriff’s office has been saddled with new bills tied to serving a higher need population. 

A recent memo to the County Board of Supervisors noted that the average cost to house a person in county jail is about $387 a day but can surge for people with medical, mental health or addiction challenges. In the Sept. 29 memo, county officials estimated nearly $32 million in Proposition 36-related costs for the sheriff’s office. 

Lopez said his agency has for now covered the increased demand on jail staff with overtime and postponed plans for some infrastructure upgrades in jails to cover costs.  

“At its core, Proposition 36 shifted the cost to the county without shifting resources and funding,” Lopez said. 

The union representing county sheriffs’ deputies argues the county needs to direct more funding to Proposition 36 implementation and to focus on retaining deputies to stem staffing issues linked to the state initiative. 

“With nearly two-thirds support countywide from voters, the county should prioritize funding to implement Proposition 36 reforms,” Deputy Sheriffs’ Association of San Diego County President Mike O’Deane wrote in a statement. “The Sheriff’s Department faces serious staffing challenges. Increased overtime is just one effect of these challenges.” 

O’Deane noted that hundreds of deputies have departed the sheriff’s office the past three years – even before Proposition 36 took effect. 

The state is set to deploy $100 million statewide this year to back behavioral health operations, courts and public defenders. 

Sheriff Kelly Martinez is among law enforcement leaders statewide arguing public safety agencies deserve more support too. 

Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to back an amended version of Martinez and Supervisor Jim Desmond’s proposal to direct the county to lobby for state funding to address increased law enforcement, criminal justice and behavioral health costs tied to Proposition 36.  

Desmond said Tuesday he wants the state to help the sheriff’s office provide better care for the influx of Proposition 36 defendants landing in county jails. 

“We should all agree that for many, the answer is treatment,” Desmond said. “We want to get people into treatment and less jail and if they’re in jail, they should be able to get the mental health treatment that they need.” 

Supervisor Paloma Aguirre successfully pushed Desmond to make a bigger ask. The final version of the item called for the county to also seek state funds to expand treatment infrastructure, housing options and local case management and re-entry service offerings.“In-custody care alone cannot be our strategy,” Aguirre said. “Treatment shouldn’t begin only after someone enters custody and it shouldn’t end when someone leaves.” 

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