Wednesday, March 11, 2015

[Napa County] Grand jury again urges video upgrades at Juvenile Hall


The Napa County grand jury issued a report Thursday on Juvenile Hall, saying that a previous year’s recommendations for better video security had not been implemented.
The 2013-14 grand jury had recommended that the county speed up the installation of upgraded video equipment and add extra cameras to the exercise yard.
During a tour of Juvenile Hall in October, this year’s grand jury discovered that “little or no progress” had been made implementing either recommendation.
The county is researching this issue, but won’t be buying new video equipment immediately because of the financial impacts of the South Napa earthquake on other county facilities, the grand jury said it was told.
Kristi Jourdan, the county’s public information officer, said Friday that the county would not comment on the grand jury report until the Board of Supervisors reviews it on April 7.
Citing confusion by some families regarding visitation rights, the grand jury said the county’s chief probation officer should give a copy of the visitation policy to both parents and juveniles.
Apart from these problems, the grand jury said Juvenile Hall, located on Old Sonoma Road, was a “secure, well maintained and professionally operated facility.”
The hall has a capacity of 60 youths, but averages 25 juveniles daily, the grand jury said. The facility employs 27 full-time counselors who are all classified as peace officers.
February 27, 2015
Napa Valley Register
By Register staff

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