July
15, 2014
The
Reporter, Vacaville
By Melissa Murphy
An investigation by the Solano County grand
jury into the county's implementation of Assembly Bill 109, the state's Public
Safety Realignment Act to reduce prison overcrowding, shows areas of
improvement, according to a report released Tuesday.
The grand jury investigated the
implementation plan of the AB 109 Realignment Act and the impact it will have
on the county. It also reviewed the County of Solano 2011 Public Safety
Realignment Implementation Plan.
"The grand jury has concerns with the
length of time in the execution of this plan and the providing of facilities
and their proper staffing," the grand jury reported.
AB 109 was passed in order to reduce inmate
population in state prisons, leaving the counties to perform some of the
state's former responsibilities and duties associated with the sentencing and
supervisions of criminals that are non-violent, non-serious and non-sex
offender. The initial reduction of the prison population resulted in the Solano
County Probation Department receiving approximately 300 additional offenders,
according to the grand jury report.
The grand jury concluded its report with
seven recommendations including the acceleration of the full implementation of
the plan. Additionally, the report noted that "there is no evidence that
recidivism rates are being tracked by any agency in Solano County" and
that the Probation Department should work cooperatively with the Sheriff's
office to track the recidivism rates and provide quarterly reports to the
Community Corrections Partnership.
The grand jury also reported that realignment
contributes to property crimes in the communities and that there has been a
marked increase in assaults on law enforcement personnel in the jails and on
the streets.
Solano County Sheriff Tom Ferrara said he
couldn't comment on how realignment has impacted individual cities in the
county, but did confirm that assaults on law enforcement in the jails have
increased.
Ferrara also referred to his response to a
previous grand jury report about the Claybank Adult Detention Center. He
reported that inmate violence on staff increased from 12 assaults in 2011,
prior to Realignment, to 46 in 2013 at both the Justice Center Detention
Facility and the Claybank Detention Facility. He also noted that inmate
population in Solano County has increased from an average of 750 in 2011 to 950
in 2013.
"We're implementing different security
measures and additional training," he said. "We're always working on
it."
Additionally, the grand jury has several
recommendations for the Day Reporting Centers in the county. The Probation
Department has a staff of 80 to handle the former state prison inmates that
have been assigned to a Day Reporting Center. The purpose of the centers in
Vallejo and Fairfield is to assist in the education, counseling and job
training.
"The goal is to reduce the recidivism
rate of prisoners once released from jail," the grand jury noted.
The grand jury reported that during its
investigation it found that the Vallejo Day Reporting Center is under utilized
and was seeing only 26 clients at an annual operating cost of $800,000. The
grand jury recommends making the "necessary changes" to the
implementation plan that will result in "full and cost effective
utilization" of the reporting center.
For now the Probation Office in Fairfield is
being remodeled to temporarily meet the needs of a Day Reporting Center for
Fairfield. There also are plans to purchase and construct a new facility
adjacent to the Solano County Health and Social Services offices off of Beck
Avenue to be a permanent location for the Fairfield Day Reporting Center.
The grand jury recommends that the county
expeditiously complete the renovation of their current building to be used as a
temporary center without delaying the construction of the permanent center.
The final comment in the report from the
grand jury noted that "a great deal of time and money has been spent on
this plan with no means to measure progress toward success."
The Solano County grand jury reports are
available online at www.solano.courts.ca.gov.
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