Eureka >> A report by the
2014-2015 Humboldt County Grand Jury released on Thursday, March 19 is
recommending the sheriff’s office inform qualified detainees in the county jail
of their legal right to be transported back to the place of their arrest in
order to adhere to state law.
“Our own findings would conclude that
the sheriff’s policies and the Humboldt County correctional officers actions
are evading their responsibilities to the qualified inmates and that it might
not technically be considered ‘breaking the law,’ but that a ‘normal person’
would conclude that the sheriff was not acting in good faith by evading the
issue and not informing those who qualify of their legal rights,” the Grand
Jury report states.
The document states that Sheriff Mike
Downey told them that correctional officers “will not inform” those qualified
detainees due to “his opinion” being that “correctional officers are not
legally mandated to do so.”
Downey said Thursday that he has never
said that his office refused to adhere to the state law and plans to have a
policy out in 30 days.
“To be clear, we have never refused to
comply with (Penal Code) section 686.5,” he said. “What we have been doing is
putting together a policy to enforce 686.5.”
The penal code section the sheriff’s
office is in question over states that the arresting agency shall return or
provide for the return of a qualified detainee to the place of their arrest as
long as that location is more than 25 miles from the jail, as the crow flies.
In order to qualify for this service, the person must either have been arrested
and released without trial, or be arrested, tried, and acquitted, or be
“indigent.”
Downey said he has been working with the
County Counsel’s Office since last year to draft a policy in order to adhere to
the provisions of the law.
“It is something that has been on our
radar and something we have finally finalized and will be putting into effect
here shortly,” he said. “The reason we had not done this before, to be quite
frank, was because we were unaware of Section 686.5 and once we were aware of
it, we made the adjustments we needed to make to comply with that.”
Downey said he could not speak more on
the policy as he had not yet formally replied to the Grand Jury’s newest
report, which he said he had not seen as he was in Shelter Cove on Thursday.
The issue of late night jail release
rose to the public forefront after the New Year’s Day 2014 murder of Rev. Eric
Freed at the St. Bernard Catholic Church rectory in Eureka — a day after his
alleged killer Gary Lee Bullock was arrested on suspicion of public
intoxication in the Garberville area and released in Eureka at 1 a.m. on Jan 1.
Another incident was the September 2013
fatal stabbing of 33-year-old Joshua Lloyd Burrell, who was killed in the Royal
Inn parking lot in Eureka shortly after he was released from jail after
midnight.
The Grand Jury also brought up the
transportation issue in its 2013-2014 annual report and recommended that the
sheriff’s office work with the Humboldt Transit Authority on possible options.
“Generally speaking the early morning
buses are not crowded and making bus tickets available would be virtually cost
free as the buses will run in any case. In some instances the place of arrest
is not accessible by public transportation and Humboldt County Correctional
Facility must make other arrangements,” the 2013-2014 report states. “... When
inmates from eastern, northern and southern parts of the county are released,
they are not returned to the place of their arrest, but let out onto the
streets of Eureka. In many instances, this policy appears to violate Penal Code
Section 686.5.”
The Board of Supervisors expressed
support to this suggestion in October, but also expressed concerns over the
costs of implementing the program.
In Downey’s written response to the
2013-2014 report and recommendation, he wrote that the option requires further
analysis before any implementation. Issues he found with the recommendation
were determining the definition of “indigent” and who would qualify under that
definition, who would be the agency responsible for transporting a detainee
back, and costs of transportation.
A press release issued by the sheriff’s
department on Friday said, “As the law states, an indigent person who was
released without trail, or acquitted may request to be taken back to the place
of arrest. There is no provision within the law that directs the sheriff to
inform the arrestee of this service. It is Sheriff Downey’s intent to implement
a legally sound policy in order to protect the rights and safety of all
citizens in Humboldt County. When the policy is implemented a press release
will outline the provisions of the policy. Since January 2015 the Correctional Facility
has been given the directive to provide, upon request, public transportation
passes to indigent persons who were arrested in Garberville and Willow Creek
areas.
“Correctional staff is currently
collecting other agencies policies as they relate to 686.5 P.C. in order to
prepare policy that will comply with the law at which such policy will be
implemented and adhered to by staff,” Downey’s Sept. 12 response states.
The Grand Jury report released Thursday
states that it can’t accurately conclude how many people would qualify under
the subject state law, citing a number of “factors” for this such as
“inconsistent” data from the sheriff’s office in regard to those transported
from the Garberville and Willow Creek areas.
“There may be disagreement about the
numbers, but the fact that there are people who qualify and that they are not
being told that they qualify is not open for disagreement,” the report states.
Downey said that the jail’s newly
drafted policy would comply with the state law, and that there is only a “small
portion of the population that is affected by this.”
“It’s not going to be that big of a
deal now that we have this policy put together to respond,” he said.
The full report can be viewed online at
the Humboldt County Grand Jury website at www.humboldtgov.org/510/Grand-Jury.
March 24, 2015
Redwood
Times
By
Will Houston
No comments:
Post a Comment