The original Santa Rita Jail opened in 1947 as a replacement for Alameda's County Prison Farm.
It was built on 1000 acres of Camp Schumacher, a World War II military base near the current site.
By 1983, overcrowding had become an issue, and plans were established for the construction of the current $172 million facility, which opened in 1989.
Funding for the jail's construction was obtained through state bonds as well as local county matching funds.

The current 113-acre (0.46 km²) facility is laid out in a modern decentralized "campus" design, similar to many modern prisons, one-half mile long by one-quarter mile wide.
The facility has 18 separate, self-contained housing units, a "core" building containing central booking, release and administration, and a service building containing the laundry, commissary, kitchen and warehouses.

Santa Rita is rated to house up to 3,489 people, making it as large or larger than many California state prisons.
It is the third largest jail in California and the fifth largest in the United States, and is considered a "mega-jail".
An automatic robotic cart system moves all meals, laundry, commissary items, supplies and garbage through the jail, allowing maximal restriction of prisoner movement throughout the facility.
A 1.2 megawatt peak-power solar array was installed in Spring 2002 on the roofs of the housing units, supplying nearly one half of the jail's power demand during daylight hours.
In May 2006, the Chevron Energy Solutions deployed a 1-megawatt fuel cell system that generates 8,000,000 kWh of electricity and 1.4 million British thermal units (410 kWh) of waste heat (50% and 18% of Jail's needs, respectively) from natural gas.
The original Santa Rita Jail opened in 1947 as a replacement for Alameda's County Prison Farm. It was built on 1000 acres of Camp Schumacher, a World War II military base near the current site. By 1983, overcrowding had become an issue, and plans were established for the construction of the current $172 million facility, which opened in 1989. Funding for the jail's construction was obtained through state bonds as well as local county matching funds.
The current 113-acre (0.46 km²) facility is laid out in a modern decentralized "campus" design, similar to many modern prisons, one-half mile long by one-quarter mile wide. The facility has 18 separate, self-contained housing units, a "core" building containing central booking, release and administration, and a service building containing the laundry, commissary, kitchen and warehouses.
Santa Rita is rated to house up to 3,489 people, making it as large or larger than many California state prisons. It is the third largest jail in California and the fifth largest in the United States, and is considered a "mega-jail". An automatic robotic cart system moves all meals, laundry, commissary items, supplies and garbage through the jail, allowing maximal restriction of prisoner movement throughout the facility. A 1.2 megawatt peak-power solar array was installed in Spring 2002 on the roofs of the housing units, supplying nearly one half of the jail's power demand during daylight hours. In May 2006, the Chevron Energy Solutions deployed a 1-megawatt fuel cell system that generates 8,000,000 kWh of electricity and 1.4 million British thermal units (410 kWh) of waste heat (50% and 18% of Jail's needs, respectively) from natural gas.
Santa Rita Jail