County
December 11, 2011
Alameda County realignment plan “ambitious” but moving in the right direction
More than a hundred felons have filtered into Alameda County since Gov. Jerry Brown's controversial plan to shift inmates from state prisons to local jurisdictions kicked in on Oct. 1.
Of the 115 who had arrived as of Monday, two have reoffended.
One was for forgery and the other for car theft, Chief Probation Officer David Muhammad said. "Given the history of the population," he added, "it's not bad."
The challenge now will be keeping the others expected to come under county supervision out of jail and in their community...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
August 30, 2011
County stalls any action on parolee realignment plan
Angry at a state program to turn over responsibility for thousands of parolees to the county, the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday postponed its plan for carrying out the effort even though it must start Oct. 1.
The board briefly considered rejecting the plan outright - "to get (the state's) attention," as Supervisor Don Knabe put it - then later approved a slightly modified version.
The county's top law enforcement officials, however, persuaded the board to adopt the plan next Tuesday instead, pointing out that inmates and parolees are coming soon...
LINK - WhittierDailyNews.com
July 5, 2011
No Guaranteed Funding for Realignment Yet, But Counties Not Worried
Back in April, Governor Jerry Brown spoke to local law enforcement officials nervous about starting realignment without the money to pay for it. Relax, Brown told them:
Brown: "The realignment is not going into effect unless we get the money. And we're not gonna get the money unless the people vote for it."
Turns out realignment is going into effect without a vote of the people. Last week's state budget includes the money to fund it for the next year. But that funding is not constitutionally guaranteed, because a budget deal that would have included a special election fell through...
LINK - Caprdio.org
July 1, 2011
Gov Brown signs budget, sending influx of inmates to county jails
The new budget that Governor Jerry Brown signed Thursday will send thousands of low level inmates to county jails instead of state prisons.
The budget will provide about $5 billion to help county jails pay for the plan.
San Francisco's sheriff Michael Hennessey said he's luckier than most because his county jails have about 300 spare beds to accommodate incoming offenders.
But, that's about to change...
LINK - KTVU.com
June 14, 2011
L.A. Sheriff wants deputies to monitor parolees - not probation
Sheriff Lee Baca not only wants his deputies to arrest and jail suspects, he thinks they should supervise the offenders' parole.
Baca is making an unprecedented bid to expand the powers of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, saying it would improve community safety because his force has more resources and law enforcement know-how than probation officers.
But the idea, expected to be heard today by the Board of Supervisors, doesn't sit well with the Los Angeles County Probation Department, whose employees have been monitoring offenders since 1903...
LINK - DailyNews.com
February 15, 2011
L.A. Sherrif Baca appears ok with Gov’s parolee/inmate shift plan
Sheriff Lee Baca today suggested that Gov. Jerry Brown's proposal to shift some services from state to local governments could be "a crime fighting opportunity."
The county's top law-enforcement officer made clear that agreements on funding and liability were key to his department's ability to take on some of the state's roles. But he also seemed to surprise some members of the Board of Supervisors with his willingness to consider taking on new responsibilities...
LINK - DailyNews.com
March 2, 2010
Sheriff Baca proposes Castaic jail shutdown in budget move
Asked to slash his department budget by $128 million, Sheriff Lee Baca has proposed a near shutdown of the 1,900-bed Castaic jail and ordering his command staff, including himself, to go back out on patrol, officials said Tuesday.
Baca said he would move nearly all the inmates and staff out of the North Facility at the Pitchess Detention Center, sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said. The proposal would save the department $26 million.
And in an effort to reduce overtime, Baca is ordering his sergeants, lieutenants, captains, commanders, chiefs and assistant sheriffs to go back out on patrol that would otherwise be done by deputies forced to work overtime...
LINK - ContraCostaTimes.com
March 1, 2010
New legislation to prevent Governor’s early inmate release plan from impacting counties
A state Assemblyman has introduced legislation to ensure that a recently enacted law allowing the early release of nonviolent offenders would only apply to state prisons, not county jails.
The original law, a cost-saving measure that officials expect will allow about 6,500 state prisoners to be released early over the next year, has caused confusion at the local level and prompted several lawsuits. Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, D-Fremont, said his proposal will make it clear that the early release provision is only meant to alleviate overcrowding at state prisons.
"It's not meant to apply to local inmates, period," he said. "We are dealing with a state crisis."...
LINK - SFGate.com
February 25, 2010
BREAKING NEWS: Fresno County deputy dies after Minkler shooting
Fresno County Coroner David Hadden confirmed his office had received the body of the slain sheriff's deputy.
The deputy's body, in a coroner's truck, was escorted by law enforcement vehicles in front and behind the truck, their light bars flashing.
Hadden, his voice cracking, said he and his staff were saddened because they had worked frequently with the slain detective.
"He was a really nice guy," Hadden said. "My whole staff is incredibly emotionally upset..."
LINK - FresnoBee.com
February 9, 2010
Gov’s early inmate release plan causing trouble in Orange County
Orange County Sheriff officials are continuing to release jail inmates early under a new law even while lawmakers and law enforcement officials around the state scramble to block or modify the law.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento have called for repealing and modifying parts of the law – including an assemblyman who helped author the law.Meanwhile, the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association filed a lawsuit trying to get a state order to block the early release of inmates in county jails.
In Orange County, officials were among nearly 20 counties in the state that decided to apply the law retroactively, releasing the first inmates the same day the law went into effect. About the same number of counties have decided that the law does not apply retroactively. Others are assessing the law's impact…
LINK - OCRegister.com
February 8, 2010
Parolee, gang member convicted of murdering 4-yr old boy
A parolee and documented gang member was convicted Monday of murder in the 2009 slaying of a 4-year-old boy in Echo Park, authorities said.
Howard Astorga, 26, was convicted by a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury of one count each of first degree murder and shooting at an unoccupied motor vehicle, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office said.
Jurors also found that Astorga carried out the crime to benefit the Diamond Street gang, according to authorities…
LINK - LATimes.com
January 28, 2010
Parolee release siphons into county
About 200 unsupervised parolees are anticipated to be returned to Butte County gradually this year under a state plan to save money and reduce prison overcrowding.
That was the assessment Chico police chief Mike Maloney said he received during a meeting with other law enforcement and parole officials prior to the new prison reduction measures going into effect Monday.
"We haven't been given a lot of detail about what is happening and it's implication, but the release of that many unsupervised parolees causes us significant concern," Maloney said…
LINK - ChicoER.com
January 28, 2010
LA County Sheriff Lee Baca critical of Gov’s early release law, Gov’s proposed budget
OUR economic problems and California's budget crisis have impacted every level of government: state, county and city. Painful cuts have been and will continue to be made in all areas. Inevitably up and down the state, counties and local governments are looking at another year of reduced budgets and additional cuts. I write this to share with you what impacts these cuts will have on public safety and on our communities.
Legislators wrote and passed Senate Bill 18 (SBX3 18), which took effect Monday. This measure was written as a way for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to decrease its budget by cutting the amount of time sentenced inmates serve in prison by increasing sentencing credits for jail and prison inmates. It also removes certain prisoners who would normally be released on a supervised parole, meaning the parolee would have a parole agent and a detailed program of re-entry, and places them on unsupervised parole, better known as summary parole…
LINK - DailyNews.com
January 26, 2010
REGION: Hundreds of jail inmates freed
A few hundred convicted criminals walked out of county jails Monday, their time behind bars cut short as part of a new law that aims to save money and thin California prisons.
In San Diego County, about 260 inmates left jail with their sentences shaved by as much as two months under the new law, which went into effect across the state on Monday. About 30 had been held at the Vista jail.
In Riverside County, about 127 jail inmates were released, officials said…
LINK - NCTimes.com
January 26, 2010
Cate calls inmate early release plan “a win-win” and “a landmark achievement”
A new law aimed at reducing the state's inmate population took effect yesterday and had an immediate effect in San Diego County, where about 260 nonviolent offenders were released.
The convicts here — all doing time for offenses such as drug possession or petty theft — were let go under a provision that forces local officials to retroactively recalculate how they shorten sentences for good behavior and other credits.
Local law enforcement and court officials reviewed the files of 1,600 inmates, including those in county jails, to determine who should get out early, said Lisa Rodriguez, a deputy district attorney. Those convicted of serious, violent or sex crimes aren't eligible for the accelerated credits, Rodriguez said…
LINK - SignOnSanDiego.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)
January 22, 2010
Police union concerned about releasing felons early from state prisons
The union representing Los Angeles police is concerned that releasing thousands of felons early from state prisons Jan. 25, including some 5,000 who are expected to return to the Los Angeles area, will jeopardize public safety.
The court-ordered plan to reduce the prison population will result in convicted felons being released into communities "without any supervision," according to the Los Angeles Police Protective League.
"The county of Los Angeles will be dramatically impacted, with over 5,000 felons to be released to our city," LAPPL President Paul M. Weber said in a statement. "What concerns law enforcement is that unlike the current program, where released inmates have been placed on parole, restricted from certain types of activities, or provided various community-based rehabilitative resources, these inmates will be completely unsupervised…"
LINK - DailyNews.com
January 15, 2010
Alleged Coachella Valley killing shows the risk of early release plan
California's early prisoner release program amid Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Draconian" $1.2 billion cuts to prisons jeopardizes public safety.
These cuts are part of Sacramento's cost-saving strategies — but at what cost? Sunday's Valley section of The Desert Sun covered the recent murder of a Coachella Valley resident — the murder suspect is a convicted burglar who was supposed to be serving an eight-month sentence but was released in July after serving only 50 percent of his time.
When questioned, parole authorities could not account as to why the murder suspect was released back into the community…
LINK - MyDesert.com (The Desert Sun)
January 13, 2010
Tuolumne County Sheriff calls Gov’s prison plan a “lose-lose”
Tuolumne County Sheriff Jim Mele expressed an outspoken reaction to several entities regarding two California prisoner release proposals.
Tuesday that three judge panel selected by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco handed down a ruling calling for the release of 40,000 prisoners within a two year period. At the same time the judges did postpone the effective date of that order pending U.S. Supreme Court consideration and another order scheduled for August on how to implement a release plan.
Meanwhile Governor Schwarzenegger has called for the transfer of state prisoners to serve out their time in county jails to easy the state budget crisis. The Governor is hopeful of reducing the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation budget by $1.2 billion…
LINK - MyMotherLode.com
December 16, 2009
Police chief op-ed: career criminals to be released under Schwarzenegger plan
…Many have forgotten the importance of the criminal justice system to include our prisons. California prisons are filled with Clemmons types. Many are suffering from mental illness and drug addiction and refuse to be rehabilitated. When they do get out, we rely on our police officers to stand between them and us.
When someone like Clemmons is willing to kill four police officers in broad daylight, how much easier is it to kill four innocent citizens?…
LINK - Times-Standard.com
October 19, 2009
Soccer ball filled with drugs, cell phones thrown over CA prison fence
A parolee was arrested Saturday morning near the Claremont Correctional Center in Coalinga after he allegedly threw a soccer ball full of drugs and cell phones over the prison fence.
Correctional staff members had received a tip about the scheme beforehand and notified the Coalinga Police Department, which called the Fresno County Sheriff's Office.
Detectives went to the prison, which is operated by the city of Coalinga, and watched as a man threw a ball into the prison compound…
LINK - FresnoBee.com
October 7, 2009
Non-sworn jail guard plans advance despite union protest
Supervisors this morning gave the go-ahead to plans for staffing a new type of non-sworn jail guards despite protest from the sheriff's union president who said the plans could compromise the safety of inmates and guards.
Supervisors voted 4-1 to move forward with the program — part of Sheriff Sandra Hutchens' plan to trim costs by replacing sworn deputies at the jails with less expensive civilians. Today's vote gave a blessing for the department's plan to staff the first 50 Correctional Services Assistant jobs and assign a general representation unit under the Orange County Employees Association.
Chairwoman Pat Bates voted against the plan, saying she thought the new positions should be filled safety officers, not civilians…
LINK - FreedomBlogging.com
September 30, 2009
Officials say larger, safer jails are needed in Tulare County
A growing population and aging facilities will add up to millions being spent on new jail facilities during the next two decades.
Tulare County will need an additional 1,143 beds in its jails in the next decade, according to a recent county study, and 1,578 beds by 2028. The study is being used by the Tulare County Sheriff's Department to plan corrections projects throughout the county.
The total projected incarceration costs - including staffing and operations, for the next 20 years: $1.27 billion.
The county has more than 1,400 inmates in four facilities for adult inmates. The main jail holds 264 inmates; the men's correctional facility, 366 inmates; and the Bob Wiley Detention Facility, 690 inmates - including the county's female inmates. The pretrial facility has a capacity of 150 - although if it was fully built out, it could hold nearly twice that number…
LINK - VisaliaTimesDelta.com
September 8, 2009
San Bernardino adopts new law to restrict parolee housing
The City Council voted Tuesday night to adopt a new law aimed at restricting group homes for parolees at a time when city officials are dreading the potential of a major release of inmates from state prisons.
City Attorney James F. Penman, who has long supported restrictions on parolee housing, proposed the law to the council.
The new law, which was passed as an urgency item by a 5-1 vote, prohibits the establishment of any new group homes for parolees, probationers or sex offenders inside city limits…
LINK - SBSun.com
August 14, 2009
Competing plans vie to fix prisons
With a $1.2 billion budget hole and a recent federal court order to address overcrowding, the pressure is growing to thin California's bulging prisons.
Now comes the trick: figuring out how can it be done without jeopardizing public safety.
California's 33 prisons house more than 150,000 inmates, almost double the amount they were designed to hold.
Last week, a federal court ordered California to empty its prisons by more than 40,000 inmates within two years. The state says it will appeal…
LINK - NCTimes.com
August 6, 2009
Jerry Brown denounces court order on release of California prisoners
Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has denounced a court order to release more than one out of every four state prisoners in California as counterproductive interference by judicial activists, and said state officials were still deliberating Wednesday whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
While acknowledging that Tuesday's ruling by a three-judge federal panel aims to resolve the same problems with severe prison overcrowding that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to, Brown said the court's latest edict on how to improve the corrections system has only contributed to the "Kafka-esque nightmare" confronting the cash-strapped state.
Federal court edicts already have imposed 19 consent decrees on state agencies trying to improve conditions in the prisons, requiring state officials to devote scarce resources to legal reports and to pay the costs of prisoners' lawsuits as well as those of the state attorneys who defend against them, Brown said…
LINK - LATimes.com
August 6, 2009
Hundreds of prisoners could be returned to Shasta County
Nearly 400 state prisoners eventually could return to Shasta County after three federal judges this week ruled to release a quarter of California's inmates.
Saying overcrowding and poor health care at the state's 33 adult prisons violated inmates' constitutional rights, the judges Tuesday gave prison officials 45 days to free some 40,000 of the state's nearly 150,000 inmates.
About 8,000 additional inmates have been sent to prisons in other states, while nearly 10,000 more are in conservation camps and community correctional facilities…
LINK - Redding.com
August 5, 2009
Editorial: Early release of prisoners results in more crime
It is shocking that in order to save the state money, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and other elected officials are contemplating a massive early release of prison inmates, the elimination of parole supervision for released prisoners, and a refusal to return inmates who violate parole to prison.
We can prove, both anecdotally and by extensive studies, that this plan will increase crime and make victims out of many innocent Californians.
For a single anecdotal case epitomizing the danger of the governor's plan, look no further than the tragic murder last month of 17-year-old Lily Burk. The accused murderer, Charlie Samuel, is a poster child for the failings of the governor's plan…
LINK - DailyNews.com
August 4, 2009
Ventura County’s own early inmate release plan
Hundreds of Ventura County inmates could be eligible for supervised release under programs announced Tuesday that are designed to ease overcrowding in the county's jails.
County officials estimate about 200 people could be sentenced to one of three new jail alternatives: work furloughs for those sentenced to less than 30 days; a new daily-reporting probation for low-risk inmates; or a supervised release program for people who are awaiting trial and can't afford bail…
LINK - VenturaCountyStar.com
July 28, 2009
Inmate Assaults 2 Merced Correctional Officers
An inmate punched a female correctional officer in the chest and hit another in the face on Saturday, deputies said.
The officers were moving the man to a safety cell because he felt "suicidal," according to the Merced County Sheriff's Department. That's when he lashed out, deputies said.
A third officer came out and fired his Taser gun at 26-year-old Antonio Moreno, deputies said. He was handcuffed and taken to a safety cell…
LINK - KCRA.com Sacramento
July 22, 2009
Proposed Prisoner Releases Causing Concern
Over 27,000 inmates would be released under a tentative plan stated in the latest California state budget. Prisoners with 12 months or less on their sentences would serve the remainder of their time on home detention with electronic monitoring. The California Department of Corrections says they won't release violent prisoners. Others like Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco aren't as confident.
"They're breaking into people's homes. They're stealing property. These are serious folks that end up in state prision," Pacheco says. "They can call them 'non-violent' all they want but it's only designed to sell their product."
The plan includes a proposal by the governor to change some felonies to misdemeanors so inmates would go to jails, like the Robert Presely Detention Center, instead of state prisons. Pacheco worries the move would further crowded county jails and diminish victims' rights…
LINK - KESQ.com
June 16, 2009
Wobblers Could Push County Budgets
A proposal by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to move wobblers – criminals convicted of crimes that could be classified as either a felony or a misdemeanor – to county jails could steal another $100 million from local governments according to California State Association of Counties estimates.
"Shifting responsibility for housing criminals to the counties is untenable and unworkable," says Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
"There is no room at the inn," Whitmore says…
LINK - PublicCEO.com
June 13, 2009
California Inmate Plan Draws Ire
California spent the past two decades making criminals pay ever-higher prices for their misdeeds, with stricter enforcement and stiffer sentences. Now, the high price of housing its inmate population has the cash-strapped state looking to dump thousands of future convicts into crowded local jails.
The proposal is part of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's plan to help Sacramento overcome a $21 billion budget deficit projected for the fiscal year beginning in July. The governor wants to change sentencing guidelines so that offenders who commit such low-level felonies as auto theft or drug possession could be charged with only misdemeanors — allowing them to serve sentences in county jails instead of state prisons.
Local law-enforcement officials warn that an influx of new inmates could force them to release their own prisoners to make room…
LINK - WSJ.com (The Wall Street Journal)
February 11, 2009
Underutilized youth prison will be continuing target
It may be a bit too soon to write the obituary for the proposal to replace the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility near Camarillo with a healthcare prison for adults, but preliminary funeral arrangements seem to be in order.
The decision last week by federal prison healthcare receiver J. Clark Kelso to put a vastly scaled-down construction proposal on the table was a clear sign of retreat — an acknowledgement that the state's crippling fiscal crisis requires a more modest plan to improve the dreadful health-treatment conditions inside California's overcrowded prisons. Kelso's least-expensive option would take Camarillo out of the picture…
LINK - VenturaCountyStar.com
January 27, 2009
Former inmate sues San Joaquin County over sack lunch
A former inmate at San Joaquin County Jail has claimed in a lawsuit that jail officials denied him his rights as a Muslim to practice his religion, U.S. District Court records show.
Kifa Muhammad claimed in his case that Muslims were not allowed to keep a sack lunch in their cell during the holy Ramadan holiday. Muslims fast during daylight hours during Ramadan. He apparently wanted to keep the sack lunch to eat after sunset, in keeping with traditional practices.
Jail personnel gave them breakfast before dawn and dinner after sunset, according to Kristen Hegge, the county's chief deputy county counsel. The Board of Supervisors is expected today to settle the case for $500…
LINK - LodiNews.com
December 24, 2008
O.C. plans 60 more layoffs amid protests
Faced with a gaping budget deficit, Orange County officials disclosed plans Tuesday to lay off nearly 60 Probation Department employees and to start releasing some juvenile criminal suspects rather than holding them in juvenile hall.
Word of the cutbacks came the same day that 1,000 angry workers stormed the Orange County Hall of Administration to protest previously announced plans to lay off 210 social services employees.
The social services cuts stem from a steep reduction in state funding that county officials said left them with no option but to eliminate jobs. In addition to the layoffs, the county has disclosed plans to require 4,000 social services employees to take two weeks off without pay next year….
LINK - LATimes.com (The Los Angeles Times)
November 15, 2008
Orange County jails need 43% more guards, report says
A consulting firm hired by Orange County supervisors to study the county's troubled jail system says more than 450 new guards are needed to ensure the "safety and security" of inmates.
The recommendation by Crout & Sida Criminal Justice Consultants calls for boosting Sheriff's Department staff at the county's five jail facilities from 1,067 to 1,521 — a whopping 43%.
The report, released Friday, comes as the county is considering an across-the-board 7% cut in spending due to revenue shortfalls brought on by the economic downturn and the state budget crisis…
LINK - LATimes.com
September 4, 2008
Yolo airport site explored for prison re-entry facility
Local officials have identified a site at the Yolo County Airport as a possible location for a proposed state prison re-entry facility.
A town hall-style meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. today in Lillard Hall, 24905 County Road 95, to discuss potential effects on the area.
The county has applied to host a re-entry facility in exchange for $30 million from the state to expand its overcrowded jail in Woodland…
LINK - SacBee.com (The Sacramento Bee)
September 3, 2008
Fresno County nonviolent inmate releases begin
Nearly two dozen inmates charged with nonviolent misdemeanors are the first to be released from Fresno County Jail as the sheriff's department responds to budget cuts.
Sheriff Margaret Mims has said she needs to release 800 inmates, close two floors of the jail and lay off 50 correctional officers to meet a proposed $2.8 million budget cut.
Twenty-two male inmates were set free Tuesday in the first wave of releases…
LINK - MercuryNews.com
August 14, 2008
Prison med center slip-up
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office mistakenly sent the wrong letter to a Woodland resident that caused quite a stir in the community last week.
It started when Woodland resident Arnold Sargent sent a letter to Schwarzenegger earlier this month, voicing his concerns over a controversial state prison re-entry facility proposed to be located in Yolo County.
The re-entry facilities are designed to house prisoners from state facilities in their home counties during the last year of their sentence. While there, inmates will learn job training skills and receive counseling, prison officials have said…
LINK - DailyDemocrat.com
August 6, 2008
Inmate: I made bomb to blow up South Bay guard
A prison inmate confessed to crafting a homemade bomb to try to blow up a guard, and the guard has been charged with smuggling contraband into the prison, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said.
Jordano LaGuerre, 24, of Lauderhill was arrested Tuesday afternoon at the South Bay Correctional Facility on charges of making an explosive device. According to the report, deputies called in to investigate a bomb threat Tuesday morning found four empty honey bottles filled with gasoline and connected to batteries and wires.
The report said LaGuerre admitted to making the bomb to try to blow up a female guard, identified in the report as Sgt. Michelle Terrien…
LINK - PalmBeachPost.com
August 6, 2008
Texas: County jail to house outside inmates soon
Despite an assortment of snags and holdups, Anderson County Sheriff Greg Taylor remains optimistic that the newly-expanded Anderson County Jail may resume housing out-of-county inmates by the end of the month.
For several months now, county officials have been waiting on completion of work on the fire alarm system in the old section of the jail.
Now that that work has been finished, however, a new problem has arisen, according to the sheriff…
LINK - PalestineHerald.com
July 16, 2008
Battle over ‘Reentry Facility’ goes before supervisors
The battle over a state prison reentry facility in Yolo County continued at Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting.
Representatives from the State Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation brought out a public relations arsenal ranging from environmental specialist to criminal reform experts to explain for the first directly to the public how a prison reentry facility will benefit the county.
Also on hand were about 40 residents from the Dunnigan and Zamora areas - the county's favored spot to place the proposed facility - to express their opposition to the site and frustration over why it took the county so long to come forward with the details…
LINK - DailyDemocrat.com
July 16, 2008
Opinion: “Cost of providing services makes re-entry facility unfeasible”
County and state officials are making every effort to convince readers that a prison re-entry facility in the Dunnigan area of Yolo County is a positive addition to the community.
In a recent front-page article regarding the proposed re-entry facility, California Department of Corrections undersecretary Kathryn Jett makes a point of saying that although highly secure, the facility will not look like a prison. It is not the look of the prison, Jett, but the lack of water, sewer, and fire protection in the area that concerns residents. She goes on to assure us that the facility will be built, funded, and staffed by the state rather than the county. Personally, I don't care if it is county or state money being spent.
Locating a facility in a rural area without a pre-existing infrastructure is simply financially irresponsible…
LINK - DailyDemocrat.com
July 16, 2008
Opinion: “County can’t be serious about putting re-entry facility in rural area”
While a well-designed re-entry process that allows prisoners to learn marketable job skills and transition into law-abiding citizens is a worthy goal, I have two concerns about the proposed re-entry facility for Yolo County. I find both the ambiguity of the county's role in providing "services" and the proposed location troubling.
We have no estimates of the long-term cost to the county for housing this facility. Budget shortfalls at the state level seem likely to shift more and more responsibility and expense to the county under the guise of the "collaborative partnership" so vaguely described in AB 900. Yolo County tax payers a decade from now are likely to pay escalating costs associated with services for this facility, and these costs will be even higher if the facility is located at a distance from existing county infrastructure. Surely there are less risky ways to provide funding for more beds in our jail…?
LINK - DailyDemocrat.com
July 9, 2008
More speak against county jail privatization
Six people spoke against privatization of county jail facilities at McLennan County Commissioners Court this morning before commissioners opened the lone proposal submitted in an effort to ease jail overcrowding problems.
Officer Phillip Zboril of the Waco Police Department's street crimes unit said his group arrests the "worst of the worst," noting that his unit is good at its job and floods the jail with criminals.
In a moment of levity, County Judge Jim Lewis responded that's part of the reason the county is in its current fix, because those officers do their job so well…
LINK - WacoTrib.com (Waco Tribune)
July 9, 2008
Sheriff makes case for prison
Monterey County Sheriff Mike Kanalakis asked the Salinas City Council on Tuesday to support a prisoner re-entry facility next to the old Natividad Hospital in Salinas. If the council does not lend its support to the facility by Aug. 14, the county will lose $80 million in state funds to expand the ever-crowded county jail.
Residents who live close to the proposed location - the Monterey County government campus that houses the Sheriff's Office at 1414 Natividad Road - came to the meeting with concerns about bringing more violent inmates to the area.
Jonabel Perez, a mother of three, was one of 11 people to voice their opinions on the project. She told the City Council that re-entry facilities are needed, but they should not be situated in the middle of Salinas…
LINK - TheCalifornian.com
July 1, 2008
Prison re-entry site picked: Officials eye old Natividad grounds for facility
After looking at sites as far away as Soledad, Monterey County officials have picked the old Natividad Hospital grounds to build a 500-bed prisoner re-entry facility, practically in the existing jail's backyard.
"It was a combination of meetings with (public officials) working together collaboratively and constructively to come up with a suitable location," Sheriff Mike Kanalakis said.
Monterey County was picked by the state to receive an $80-million grant to improve its aging, overcrowded jail with one condition: Find a piece of land in the county where the state can build a prisoner re-entry facility within 90 days. The announcement was made May 8…
LINK - MontereyHerald.com
June 27, 2008
County OKs inmate health deal
The renewal of a contract to provide medical services to inmates in the county jail led to far-reaching discussion at the June 24 Tuolumne County Board of Supervisors meeting.
In the end, the county's contract for fiscal year 2008-09 with California Forensic Medical Group, Inc., a Monterey-based private health care provider that specifically deals with correctional facilities, was approved, but not without criticism about the way the state funds local needs. The base figure of the contract is $785,856, with the county bearing any medical costs above $15,000 per inmate "per incident."
Supervisor Mark Thornton prompted the discussion. He said it was "illogical" that much of the funding for inmates' medical needs, comes from "realignment dollars" from vehicle license fees. Thornton said money from the license fees should not go to fund things like inmate medical costs because they are unrelated to automobiles…
LINK - UnionDemocrat.com
June 27, 2008
Suspect in attack on officer gets hearing set
An August preliminary hearing date has been set for a convicted Vallejo holdup man arrested last year on attempted murder charges following an attack on a county jail correctional officer.
Solano County Superior Court Judge William C. Harrison on Thursday scheduled 10:30 a.m. Aug. 18 for a preliminary court hearing into the charges against 30-year-old Fred Feleki Martinez of Vallejo.
Martinez faces charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury, battery upon a custodial officer and possession of a deadly weapon by a county jail inmate…
LINK - TheReporter.com Vacaville
June 26, 2008
Re-enter via Dunnigan: Some say county was trying to slip prison facility by the public
What was once described by county officials as a "remote" possibility now seems an imminent reality - a state prison re-entry facility is coming to Yolo County. That has residents in the county's unincorporated areas, where the re-entry projects are proposed, angry with questions.
At a town meeting in Zamora Monday night, about 50 residents bombarded supervisors Matt Rexroad, who supports the idea, and Duane Chamberlain, who is against it, with their concerns and in some cases outright hostility toward the idea of a "mini-prison" located near their small town. Both men came to speak about the proposed facilities.
"I have never seen people this organized to defeat something in 40 years," said Keith Williams, chairman of the Dunnigan Advisory Committee, who also attended the Zamora meeting. "People do not want to see their town dominated by a prison"…
LINK - DailyDemocrat.com - Woodland, California
June 25, 2008
Deputies come out in force against proposal to privatize the jail
Uniformed county officers filled the seats and lined the walls of the small McLennan County Commissioners Court room Tuesday. They turned out in force to let commissioners know they are staunchly against privatizing the county jail on State Highway 6.
The county is weighing several options to stem overcrowding in its jail under pressure from state regulators. Building a new, larger jail on Highway 6 and privatizing its management is one idea on the table.
Officer Ricky Armstrong, one of roughly 60 officers at the meeting, listed his concerns, including public safety. County officers have had to respond to trouble at the privately run downtown jail before, he said. If the State Highway 6 jail also gets privatized, who will be there to step in and help the downtown jail when things get out of hand again, he asked….
LINK - WacoTrib.com (The Waco Tribune)
June 22, 2008
Opinion: “No single solution to jail overcrowding”
SOUTH CAROLINA - Reducing the number of inmates in the Beaufort County Detention Center by clearing out "career criminals" is a laudable goal and one that Beaufort County Council should back up with money.
Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone has asked for about $187,000from the county to help pay for a special team of experienced attorneys and a victim's advocate. The team would prepare cases for trial to get these people out of the county jail and into a state prison. The total cost is an estimated $264,450 a year. Stone says he plans to go to municipalities for possible contributions. They, too, should kick in.
With a county jail designed for 250 prisoners averaging 350 prisoners a day, something must be done. These prisoners, Stone said, won't plead guilty and he doesn't want to offer themdeals. About half the jail's occupants fit Stone's description of "career criminal…
LINK - IslandPacket.com
June 13, 2008
11 Arrested in Sweep: Federal, state, local agencies check Shasta’s sex offenders
…About a half-dozen of the men were arrested at downtown Redding motels, said Redding police Sgt. Mike Wood. Called Operation FALCON, an acronym for "Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally," the sweep is part of an annual national event organized by the U.S. Marshals Service, Wood said..
Split into about seven teams, the law enforcement officers — from the Shasta County Sheriff's Office, Redding Police Department, Shasta County Marshal's Office, Shasta County Probation Department, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Marshal's Office and the Shasta County district attorney's office — conducted a countywide sweep, he said.
"It's kind of a zero tolerance," Wood said…
LINK - Redding.com
June 13, 2008
Santee officials say report on larger jail is flawed
City officials yesterday accused the county of failing to thoroughly analyze and mitigate the effects of a larger Las Colinas jail in a draft environmental report released in April.
That report should be significantly revised and re-released to the public, Santee officials said in a letter to the county. "There's a lot more work to be done," Santee City Manager Keith Till said.
Santee residents and officials have been staunchly opposed to a county proposal to replace the 810-bed jail in the center of the city with a bigger jail. Las Colinas, a worn-down, 1960s-era facility, has been on the county's list for replacement for years. It is the only all-female jail in the county…
LINK - SignonSanDiego.com (San Diego Union-Tribune)
June 13, 2008
Ohio: Amount of unpaid benefits remains unknown
The price tag for unpaid retirement benefits owed by Columbiana County for some former employees hired by the private jail operator in 1997 remains unknown as commissioners prepare for the 2009 tax budget hearing set for 10 a.m. July 9…
…On April 30, commissioners approved a consent judgment entry to settle a court action filed in January by four former employees who were laid off when the county privatized the jail and then rehired by CiviGenics, the private firm the county contracted to run the jail.
The employees claimed the county failed to pay into the public retirement system for their past, present and future time with CiviGenics as ordered by the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System Board in November 2007…
LINK - ReviewOnline.com
June 4, 2008
Florida: Sheriff Tapped to Run Jail
Running the Bay County jail is not the most glamorous of jobs, but Sheriff Frank McKeithen has offered to take on the task to the delight of the Bay County Commission. At Tuesday's regular Commission meeting McKeithen made clear that he could not garuntee there would be no problems under his watch.
"I'm not going to tell you there will never be a hostage situation or jail break or issues in jail but I will tell you that there will be far less than what CCA has had to deal with in that facility downtown," said McKeithen.
Last month Bay County expressed disappointment that Corrections Corporation of America would not run the new jail at a rate of $43 a day per prisoner, but Tuesday they said McKeithen's offer of $50 per prisoner a day was reasonable…
LINK - WMBB.com News Channel 13 - Panama City, Florida
June 3, 2008
Riverside Picnic for cancer patients, families
The Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Foundation of the Inland Empire will co-sponsor a picnic June 8 in Riverside for children diagnosed with cancer and their families.
The 27th annual event, also sponsored by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, is set from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Hunter Hobby Park, 1496 Columbia Ave…
LINK - PE.com (The Press Enterprise)
May 27, 2008
Los Angeles County braces for an influx of state prisoners
SACRAMENTO — With jails, drug-rehab centers and probation offices already swamped, Los Angeles County officials are bracing to take on thousands of additional low-risk convicts who could come their way as part of a proposed legal settlement to reduce state prison overcrowding.
The idea of reducing the state prison population by shifting offenders to county programs and facilities is causing anxiety among those who would be expected to take on the additional responsibilities.
"I'm pretty worried," said Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, whose jail system is under a court order to ease overcrowded facilities. "The impact is substantial because we have the largest percentage of the prison population coming out of our county. If you don't plan it carefully and with success in mind, what you get is catastrophe"…
LINK - LATimes.com (The Los Angeles Times)
May 14, 2008
San Joaquin County gets what it needs
San Joaquin County got everything it sought for our County Jail expansion. Now it's up to us to build it and stanch the revolving-door jail operations.
The state Corrections Standards Authority said last week that the county will receive $80 million to help pay for a 1,280-bed expansion of the jail. That's everything the county asked for when state officials suggested - no, more than suggested, they said outright - state money would be forthcoming for a jail expansion if locals went along with a plan to open the shuttered women's prison as a re-entry facility for men.
Mind you, county officials were not happy about the possibility of another state prison facility here. We have more than our share. But they also were desperate for help expanding the jail, operating under a court-ordered population cap that means people who should be there are released because there is no room…
LINK - RecordNet.com
May 13, 2008
Florida: CCA Quits Bay County Jail
Late last night Bay County received word that Corrections Corporation of America submitted their notice says a County Spokesperson.
CCA runs the County's Jail and Jail Annex and was slated to run the new $40 million jail currently under construction off Cherokee Heights Road.
Commissioners plan to take up the topic when they reconvene their recessed meeting on Friday at 2 p.m. Commissioners have asked Sheriff Frank McKeithen to attend that meeting at Panama City City Hall…
LINK - WMBB.com (Panama City, Florida News)
May 9, 2008
Re-entry site refusal pushed Shasta out of top money
Shasta County lost its bid for $24.9 million in state funding to build a 221-bed jail expansion because, unlike competing small counties, it declined to provide a site for a state prison re-entry facility.
Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Shasta County's application ranked sixth out of 10 small California counties that applied for the money. The top four were awarded portions of the $100 million available to small counties.
Bosenko said he spoke with several members of the executive steering committee that reviewed and ranked the applicants…
LINK - Redding.com
May 9, 2008
California picks 12 counties to share $750 million in jail funds
Twelve California counties, including Yolo, are in line to receive a combined $750 million in jail construction funds under recommendations released Thursday by the state Corrections Standards Authority.
To qualify for the jail money authorized by lawmakers last year, the counties had to agree to site new "re-entry" prisons designed to improve rehabilitation programs and smooth short-term inmates' transition home.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 900, contained the jail money to stanch the early releases of tens of thousands of offenders every year from the overcrowded county systems, many of which are operating under court-ordered prisoner population caps…
LINK - SacBee.com (The Sacramento Bee)
May 9, 2008
County just misses cut for women’s jail funding; status of re-rentry facility in Paso unknown
San Luis Obispo County lost out on a $25.1 million grant that county officials had hoped to use for a new women's jail.
The state Correctional Standards Authority on Thursday preliminarily doled out $650 million in grants to eight counties of similar or larger size. San Luis Obispo County was ninth on the list.
The announcement is a blow to the women's jail project, which has been a focus of Sheriff Pat Hedges because the current jail is too small. County officials said the $30 million to $40 million project likely will be put on hold…
LINK - SanLuisObispo.com
April 26, 2008
Hundreds riot at L.A. detention center for illegal immigrants
Los Angeles County sheriff's officials are investigating a riot that broke out Tuesday involving hundreds of immigration detainees at a county-run facility in Lancaster, where guards had to use tear gas grenades to restore order, authorities said today.
The Sheriff's Department contracts with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to house about 900 detainees awaiting deportation at the Mira Loma Detention Center, according to sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore.
Sheriff's and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel spent much of the night interviewing detainee witnesses, and some who instigated the riot may be prosecuted on criminal charges, authorities said…
LINK - LATimes.com (Los Angeles Times)
April 1, 2008
Prison: no returns - 2 Plans Aim to Reduce Recidivism
State and local officials said over the past week that they're still pursuing new corrections facilities that are intended to prevent San Bernardino County parolees from returning to prison. There are two types of institutions that could be used locally as attempts to reform corrections policies. One would be geared toward assisting inmates who have yet to be released from prison, and the other is intended to serve probationers and parolees who are at risk of being sent behind bars.
But at this point, it's still not certain when those new institutions may be parts of the county's public safety landscape. Despite officials' enthusiasm for the planned facilities, the state budget crisis and a lawsuit that challenges major prison reform legislation both present obstacles to law enforcement…
LINK - San Bernadino/Inland Empire Sun
March 10, 2008
Soledad wary of prison proposal
Soledad Mayor Richard Ortiz said Kanalakis' presentation didn't receive "a good review." "How does the city feel about it?" he said. "It doesn't feel that great about developing that prison." While Ortiz said the city would have welcomed a facility on the county-owned land that already houses two prisons, the Camphora Gloria Road site is "just a stone's throw from the city of Soledad." It's also within Soledad's sphere of influence, an area slated for future growth in the city's general plan.
Both sites would place the re-entry facility too close to Soledad residents, he said, potentially endangering them. "I think there was interest, but also concerns," Kanalakis said. "I tried to address those concerns as best as I could, but I got a sense that they felt that they might be looked at like a dumping ground."
LINK - TheCalifornian.com (Salinas Californian)
March 5, 2008
Stanislaus County scrambles to find jail money
Counties that agree to having the state build a "re-entry facility" in the county or help the state with mental health and crisis care for state parolees and ex-offenders will be given preference for jail construction money, Hill Thomas said. The re-entry facility concept initially was supported by many sheriffs around the state, Christianson said. It was to house inmates in their last year of confinement, giving them training in vocational and life skills before they were released, Christianson said.
That's better than releasing inmates with bus tickets and $200 and leaving them to cope for themselves, Christianson said. However, the concept morphed into a program operated by the Department of Corrections, with no input or control by the Sheriff's Department, Christianson said. "We shouldn't allow that to happen," he said. "I'm not going to agree to site prisons that we don't have any control over."
LINK - ModBee.com (Modesto Bee)
March 4, 2008
Tulare County: “Officials ask for gang unit”
"I think [the new unit is] crucial," Williams said. "I think we have to apply whatever resources we can [to gang problems]."
Also in the works is a plan to train a dozen correctional deputies at Tulare County jails to become gang experts who would monitor the activities of inmates with gang ties — the majority inmates. They would gather intelligence for gang officers and identify "shot-callers" — inmates directing gang crimes from the jails.
Money for that program would come from the sheriff's department's existing budget, a supervisors report states.
LINK - VisaliaTimesDelta.com
February 19, 2008
Prisoner Re-entry Facility to Relocate
County says it should be built in Soledad
A state prisoner re-entry facility proposed for Salinas has been relocated to an area near Soledad, county officials said Friday, after the state changed the facility's potential population from low-risk to high-risk inmates.
The project is a joint venture with the county's custody operations bureau and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation…
LINK - CalifornianOnline.com
