List of California county jails

California's county jails function like county jails throughout the United States: they are used to incarcerate people pre-trial, through a trial and sentencing, and for some sentences of commitment.

The majority of people incarcerated in California's county jails have not been sentenced (they are pre-trial and have not been convicted of a crime).

In 2011, the Public Safety Realignment Act was signed into law in response to the Supreme Court case Brown v. Plata and the resulting court order to address prison overcrowding in the state.

Realignment "shifted responsibility for all sentenced non-violent, non-serious, non-sex offenders from state to local jurisdictions",[1] which decreased California prison populations, increased California county jail populations, and changed the types and distribution of crimes for which people were serving sentences in county jails.

[4] Rated capacity and average daily population reports from the California Board of State and Community Corrections were used to determine what constitutes a distinct jail facility for this list.