The Yolo County supervisors are considering a state offer of $30 million to expand its undersized jail.

Early in the meeting, the board voted 4-1 to affirm its support for a prison in the county. It appeared the supervisors were headed toward a vote to rank the three proposed sties and submit that list to the state.

To get the funds, county supervisors must agree to host a state re-entry facility for as many as 500 inmates and find a suitable location.

Supervisors must offer the sites to the state by Sept. 13.

Hundreds of people filled the supervisor's chambers and spilled into the hallway. Many watched the proceedings on a television set in an area outside the chamber.

People protesting against the prison sites marched outside the building.

The re-entry prisons, a category created by state law last year, are planned throughout the state.

Offering counseling, training and education to inmates in their last year of incarceration, the secure facilities are meant to relieve prison crowding and prevent parolees from winding up back in custody.

Nearly everyone agrees it's a laudable effort -- but few want the mini-prisons near them.

The incorporated cities in Yolo - Woodland, Davis and West Sacramento - have a legal right to refuse the re-entry facility, and city leaders have made it clear they don't want it.

That leaves only the county's unincorporated areas.

As sites have been considered near the rural communities of Zamora, Dunnigan, Esparto, Madison and West Plainfield, hundreds of angry residents have attended town hall meetings to protest.

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