By Dylan Darling, Ryan Sabalow
Posted June 27, 2011 at 11:42 a.m., updated June 27, 2011 at 12:12 p.m.
The Shasta County Grand Jury released its 2010/11 report today. The county’s 17-member panel of volunteer jurors is a watchdog group charged with keeping an eye on whether local government agencies are acting in the public’s interest. Here are the key findings from this year’s report:
Chilly inmates
The grand jury received a complaint from an inmate who said that in December 2010 and January this year guards at the Shasta County Jail forced inmates to stand outside in near freezing temperatures in short-sleeved shirts for almost two hours in an outside recreation yard while their cells were searched.
The jurors reviewed daily temperature records and found that on two days inmates indeed had been forced to stand out in 37 and 36 degrees temperatures.
“Inmates are not provided with adequate protection from the cold during the inmate housing unit searches that occur in winter,” the jurors found.
The jurors recommended the prisoners be moved to other areas of the jail during pod searches or, if required to stand outside, inmates need proper clothing or some other way to keep warm.
Background checks questioned at Anderson Police Department
The grand jury in its routine discussion with local law enforcement agencies found that the Anderson Police Department doesn’t have a Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certified background investigator, a finding a police department spokesman denied today.
POST is a state commission established in 1959 to set a minimum selection and training standards for local law enforcement agencies.
The findings come after former Officer Bryan Benson, 26, was accused last year of raping a woman he was taking to jail. His trial is pending, and he’s pleaded not guilty to the charges. His partner Matthew Goodwin, who wasn’t charged, was fired from the department after an internal investigation.
The jurors, who made no mention of Benson and Goodwin in their report, recommended the department follow the lead of every other law enforcement agency in the north state and use the state’s inexpensive services to check recruits’ backgrounds.
Capt. Robert Kirvin said today that his department already does. He said Anderson Sgt. Steve Blunk is POST certified and performed the background check on Benson. However, Kirvin said he performed the background check on Goodwin.
Kirvin isn’t a POST certified background investigator, he said.
Interim Police Chief Shawn Watts will draft a rebuttal in response to the jury’s findings, Kirvin said.
Violent inmates are manning the fire lines
The grand jury found that there are indeed inmates with violent criminal histories being placed at at least one local fire camp.
The jury’s findings come after a months-long Record Searchlight investigation that found at any given time at least one in five of the 4,000-plus inmates at the state’s camps have violent criminal histories.
The newspaper’s finding directly contradicted claims by state prison officials who repeatedly denied that violent inmates are placed at the camps and that only “carefully-screened,” non-violent, low-risk inmates are allowed inside the state’s 41 minimum-security conservation camps, including a handful in the north state.
The grand jury found that there are some inmates at Sugar Pine Conservation Camp in Bella Vista "that have been convicted of violent crimes.”
“However, they have become eligible for assignment to Sugar Pine by having their classification reduced to a ‘minimum-security’ level,” the jurors wrote. “This is accomplished by time served, good behavior and further recommendations from the Department of Corrections.”
Mountain Gate board showed favoritism in GM hire
The Mountain Gate Community Services District board showed favoritism when it lowered its employment standards and hired the former board chairman last December to be its general manager, the grand jury concluded.
The board hired Jeff Cole, who served on the board from Feb. 24, 2009, to Dec. 11, 2009, on Dec. 9, 2010 to the $5,250-per month general manager post. In doing so it went against the advice of three general managers from other north state water districts, according to the grand jury.
“The board sent eight of the applications it had received for the general manager position to the managers of three water districts to review and rank those applications,” the grand jury wrote. “The current Mountain Gate general manager was rated eighth in the list of applicants by those managers.”
No laws broken, but finances questioned in Burney pool funding
The grand jury found that while the Burney Water District needed to get its funding sources in order when it comes to the local pool, it didn’t break any laws.
The grand jury received a complaint from someone who alleged the district was using water and sewer services paid by district rate payers to balance the community swimming pool fund.
The complaint alleged the move violated Proposition 218, a 1996 law that required voter approval for any changes in assessments and property-related fees.
The jury found no evidence that a proposed increase from $1 to $5 in fees at the pool was made without voter approval (since the board didn’t officially move ahead with an oversight committee’s recommendation). However, the jurors found several other problems with the district’s budgeting, which led to net operating loss for at least three years.
The jurors said the district needs to eliminate its operating losses and be able to handle unanticipated future expenses, and should “carefully monitor operations to bring the district into a break-even position.”
http://www.redding.com/news/2011/jun/27/shasta-county-grand-jury-report-inmates-left-cold/
No comments:
Post a Comment