(Riverside County) Probation Department: Housing for ex-inmates adequate

September 5, 2014

The Desert Sun

By Barrett Newkirk

Reacting to concerns raised about the impact that statewide prison alignment has had in Riverside County, probation officials insist that the existing housing program meets the needs of ex-inmates.

The position is the probation department’s response to a June grand jury report, which found that — unlike the California Department of Parole — the county has no system of half-way houses for released offenders without housing options.

While temporary housing was provided at five locations in Riverside and the southwest are of the county, no emergency housing was available in the county’s desert communities, the grand jury found.

In its response, county probation officials noted that, in July, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved an additional 47 beds, bringing the total number available through contracted providers to 77 beds.

Of those, 35 beds are at the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission in Indio.

As of late August, seven of the 35 Indio beds were being used, said Beth Stevens, spokeswoman for the county Probation Department.

“Right now, no one is on the waiting list,” Stevens told The Desert Sun. “If someone comes in and needs services, we are able to help them.”

The department’s response to the grand jury report called the recommendation to develop a half-way house program “not warranted” and “not reasonable at this time.”

“Should the need arise in the future for additional housing, probation (officials) will reassess the needs for the development of half-way houses,” the response said.

The county’s Board of Supervisors are scheduled to consider the probation department’s response when at Tuesday’s meeting.

In Riverside County, about one in 10 people released from jail or prison into a probation program under AB 109, the state inmate realignment law, are counted as homeless, according to a Desert Sun review of two years of probation records.

The analysis found the rate was even higher in Indio, where one in five probationers was homeless, and in Palm Springs, where the rate was one in seven — and rising.

Stevens said Friday that those homeless rates may be inflated because former inmates sometimes don’t want to report where they’re living, or inmates in temporary housing are being counted as homeless. She did not believe AB 109 has led to an increase in homelessness among probationers.

The sheriff’s department, in its own response to the grand jury, agreed with the jurors’ conclusion that AB 109 had increased the burden on local law enforcement by placing more felons in the community without providing additional funding for the extra responsibilities.

But representatives of the sheriff’s department did not agree with all of the grand jury’s recommendations for how to handle the challenges, including that changes to release procedures and an improved radio network would offer any significant relief.

The sheriff’s department also issued a response to a separate grand jury report that raised concerns about inadequate training among the corrections officers.

In its findings, the grand jury report found that officers were not performing required inmate headcounts at the beginning of shifts and hourly security checks.

The sheriff’s department said it had taken steps to bring officers in compliance before receiving the grand jury’s report.

Reach Barrett Newkirk at (760)778-4767, barrett.newkirk@desertsun.com or on Twitter @barrettnewkirk.