July
7, 2014
Banning-Beaumont
Patch
By
Renee Sciavone
Riverside County supervisors
recently directed staff to respond within 60 days to a grand jury report citing
shortcomings in how county agencies have handled state-mandated changes to
public safety operations.
In a 5-0 vote last Tuesday,
without comment, the Board of Supervisors accepted an 18- page report detailing
how the county has coped with AB 109.
The 2011 Public Safety
Realignment Act relieved the state of supervising parolees -- making it a local
responsibility -- and required counties to incarcerate many convicts who
previously would have gone to a penitentiary to serve their sentences.
The 19-member civil grand jury
cited good and bad results since implementation of the realignment program in
October 2011.
Positives included the successful
formation of countywide Post-Release Accountability Teams, or PACTs, tasked
with tracking down and arresting parolees out of compliance with the terms of
their release from incarceration.
However, jurors noted that not
all cities -- namely Lake Elsinore and Perris -- had law enforcement personnel
taking part in one of the county's three PACTs, leaving it to other agencies to
fill the gap.
According to the report, one of
the biggest deficiencies since AB 109 took effect has been in the area of
communication, primarily the sheriff's and probation departments' lack of
consistency in alerting municipal police agencies to the upcoming release of a
convict.
Jurors found that not having an
"updated and centralized database" for keeping track of who's being
released from one of the county's five detention facilities posed a potential
public safety risk.
"When a prisoner is
released from a county jail ... no immediate notification is made to local law
enforcement agencies," according to the narrative.
Jurors stressed the importance
of a unified database so that authorities can get a better handle on "what
programs and processes are successful" in confirming the whereabouts of
probationers and parolees, and keeping them out of trouble.
The grand jury identified the
two main categories of AB 109 inmates as those on "post-release community
supervision" -- or let out of prison to relieve overcrowding in the
state's 33 penal institutions -- and those under "mandatory supervision,"
who are on probation or parole and have been jailed for offenses that do not
warrant a return to prison.
Under AB 109, offenders
convicted of a "non-serious, non-violent" and non-sexually oriented
crime must serve their time in a county jail. Officials have underscored the
immense pressure this has placed on the local correctional system.
As a result of overcrowding,
between Jan. 1, 2012, and June 12, a total 21,800 inmates have been released
from the county's jails before completing their sentences or having their cases
adjudicated, according to sheriff's figures.
The early releases are known as
"fed kicks" because of a 1993 federal court decision mandating that
each county inmate have a bed, or else the sheriff is required to free some
detainees to make room for incoming ones.
Sheriff's officials vet
offenders to ensure only those considered "low- level" are turned
loose. However, since implementation of AB 109, upward spikes in localized
crime have been reported throughout the county, with property crimes generally leading
the list of offenses.
According to the grand jury,
research pointed to instances in which inmates are set free without a formal
"case plan" being developed on where they're going to reside and how
they're going to support themselves. On some occasions, probation officers were
not notified of an inmate's release until two days later, the report stated.
The grand jury also expressed
concern about a lack of uniform radio communication between agencies. The
county's Public Safety Enterprise Communication system, or PSEC, went live in
January, boasting digital broadcasting ability across 95 percent of the county.
But not all area cities have signed on, hampering the ability of one law
enforcement agency knowing whether a neighboring one has arrested a dangerous
offender.
The grand jury said 4,500
prisoners have been placed on supervised release after serving time in a local
jail since AB 109 took effect. About 15 percent of those have ended up
homeless, figures showed. Jurors said the county needs to expand its inventory
of "transitional" and "emergency" housing to keep inmates
from sleeping on the streets or draining county resources by staying in motels
on the county's dime.
Other recommendations included:
· Requiring the sheriff's and probation departments to regularly
alert local police agencies prior to a prisoner's release
· Requiring a probation officer to meet with an inmate prior to
release to verify where he or she will be staying and go over other terms to
ensure compliance
· Encouraging local agencies to subscribe to PSEC or develop other
means to obtain "seamless" communication between the county, cities
and neighboring counties
· Get all potential players to join the PACTs
– City News
Service.
No comments:
Post a Comment