Monterey County Jail runs on emergency generators for second straight night

The Monterey County Jail remains cut-off from the power grid.
Emergency generators are running for the second straight night.

The emergency generators at the jail can only provide limited power.
They had to cancel all visitations for inmates, and close the jail to the public.

Some of the computer systems the employees there use are down, and certain sections of the jail remain dark.

“Some of those areas include some of our administrative offices, our classrooms, where we, provide, certain types of, educational services to our incarcerated population, our briefing rooms, our break room for our employees," said Commander Andres Rosas of the Monterey County Sheriff's Department.

As of Tuesday night, there were 790 people locked up inside.

“Every location where our incarcerated population is at is receiving power. If they weren't receiving power, we'd have a problem,” said Rosas.

But they have had to adjust the routine.

“We're doing it in a in an organized fashion. So people are being taken out, at specific times so that they can have those warm showers. They are still receiving meals. They're receiving the the services that they that we are required to provide to them," he said

The county is working on fixing the electrical meter after PG&E discovered what they called a “safety issue.”

“The hopes is that we will be able to resolve this issue very soon and resume operations at full power," said Rosas.

Nobody has an estimate for when repairs will be finished, but in the meantime, the department said they’re giving the inmates more access to a tablet communication system so they can stay connected to loved ones on the outside.