Monday, June 24, 2019

[Santa Cruz County] Grand Jury Report Finds Drugs, Crowding In Santa Cruz Co. Jails

The biggest problems cited in the report include drugs inside the jails, inmate overcrowding, and mandatory overtime rules.


SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — A Santa Cruz County grand jury report released Wednesday is recommending that the county do more to prevent drugs from getting into its jails; address overcrowding in its Main Jail; and reduce certain stress factors affecting correctional officers at its jail facilities.
The 2018-2019 Detention Facilities Inspection Report was drafted following onsite jail visits by the grand jury and is mandated under state law. Main Jail, Blaine Street Women's Facility, Rountree Detention Facility, Juvenile Hall, Court Holding Facility, and Ben Lomond Conservation Camp were all inspected by the grand jury, according to the report.
"There is nothing [in the report] that is a surprise to us," said Santa Cruz County Undersheriff Craig Wilson. "We know about these problems and have been working to address them."
According to the report's findings, drugs continue to come into all of the facilities undetected, and Wilson said that part of upcoming budget discussions with the county board of supervisors is a request by the sheriff's office for a body scanner—like those used at airports—for use at Main Jail, which is the county's primary intake facility. Additionally, the sheriff's office is asking for a police dog trained to sniff out narcotics, Wilson said. The K9 could be used around inmates and jail grounds, and could also be put to work during jail visitation hours, Wilson explained.
As for overcrowding at Main Jail, Wilson said the issue has existed since the facility was built in 1981, but the inmate population has really gone up over the last year. Currently, Main Jail is at 120 percent capacity.
"There are no plans to build new jails," Wilson said, but officials are looking at ways to reduce overcrowding. Moving female inmates out of Main Jail into some other county-owned facility could significantly reduce head count and provide a better environment for the women, according to Wilson. There might be existing county buildings that could be suitable for female inmate housing, he said.
Another option to decrease the inmate population is to consider what Wilson called "alternate sanctions" that don't involve jailing all low-level offenders.
The grand jury report also found that correctional officers in Santa Cruz County are working mandatory overtime shifts, which Wilson admits is contributing to burnout among the employees. "We don't have a hiring problem, we have a retention problem," he said. "They need a break."
The mandatory overtime shifts have been in place for approximately two years, but the sheriff's office has started bringing in deputies to work the jails as a way to reduce overtime burdens on correctional officers, but Wilson acknowledged that it's a temporary fix.
"It's something we have to address," he said.
The sheriff's office has 60 days to formally respond to the grand jury report, and the county board of supervisors has 90 days to respond.
June 19, 2019
Patch.com
By Toni McAllister


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