Most of the people released from San Diego County jail are let go after just a few hours or days, often in the early morning when transportation and other services are not generally available. That leaves many of the “quick cyclers” short on options when it comes to getting home — if they have a home to get to — or even securing a ride from a friend or relative to someplace else. As a result, Supervisor Jim Desmond is asking county officials to coordinate programs to serve better people who are released from custody, especially those leaving Vista Detention Facility during off hours. Under current practices, only those people leaving jail with less than $7 in cash are given free transit. “We have heard from community members and local elected officials that those released from VDF struggle to navigate the public transportation systems and are left wandering the streets of Vista,” Desmond told his board colleagues in a memo this month. “Limited transportation options act as barriers to reentry, exacerbating challenges faced by the formerly incarcerated population and hindering their ability to rebuild their lives,” he added. Specifically, the Board of Supervisors agreed to direct the chief administrative officer to work with the Sheriff’s Office, other county departments and community groups to develop a plan to provide universal transit passes to people released from jail. The supervisors’ effort is part of a broader plan called Alternatives to Custody, which seeks to improve coordination between government officials and community providers so men and women let out of jail can better access housing and other services. Supervisors also want the chief administrator to work with Sheriff Kelly A. Martinez to make sure that every person released from custody is advised on transportation options, and to return to the board early next year to provide an update. Desmond said fewer than 5% of the 12,000 people who leave the Vista jail each year receive coordinated release to a specific program. “These coordinated releases include the work of housing-focused correctional counselors who coordinate transportation directly from custody to housing,” the North County supervisor wrote in his report to the board. The preliminary estimate developed for the pilot project placed annual costs for the Vista effort alone at $123,000 — about half for transit passes and the rest for $5 phone cards that would be distributed to the 12,000 people released each year. The cost to implement the plan countywide was estimated at $425,000. Over coming months, county officials plan to hold more discussions to expand the transportation element of the Alternatives to Custody program to include housing, counseling, job-training and a host of other services. According to an August memo from the county’s Public Safety Group to the five elected supervisors, the improved coordination is designed to reduce the number of “quick cyclers” — people who regularly go in and out of jail for hours, days or weeks at a time.