Marin should contract with
another county for youth detention services because its own juvenile hall has
become too expensive to run, the Marin County Civil Grand Jury reported.
The investigative panel found
that the county spends about $3.7 million a year and employs 21 people to run
the 40-bed Marin County Juvenile Hall round the clock — yet its average daily
population was a mere 9.1 inmates in 2014.
In addition to forging a
contracting deal with another county, the grand jury recommended finding
another use for the property, which occupies a tract of land off Lucas Valley
Road in northern San Rafael.
The findings were released this
month in a report titled, “Marin County Juvenile Hall: A Time for a Change.”
The grand jury, a branch of the
local judiciary that researches public policy issues and monitors government
performance, toured the juvenile hall complex and four others in the state.
Jurors also interviewed numerous state and county officials.
The jury found that Marin’s
juvenile offender population has declined as the county, like jurisdictions
throughout the country, has sought alternative programs for youth offenders
rather than locking them up. Also, the grand jury said, the loosening of
marijuana possession laws has helped reduce the number of youth arrests.
In Marin, the number of youth
detentions fell from 1,674 in 1995 to 253 in 2014, according to the report. The
average daily population at Marin County Juvenile Hall has dropped from 30 in
2005 to 9.2 in 2014, with a median incarceration period of 8.4 days.
With the decline in population
at the hall, the cost-per-offender has increased “astronomically,” the grand
jury said. In 2014, the daily cost per inmate figured out to $901.64 — nearly
twice as much as in 2011.
State law requires counties to
have juvenile halls, but it also allows counties to operate joint facilities,
the grand jury said. It identified at least six counties that have no juvenile
jails but contract with other counties, with daily costs of $85 to $190 per
youth inmate.
The grand jury suggested that
Marin could pay Sonoma or Napa counties for their excess space and use the
savings for programs that are alternatives to incarceration.
The grand jury has requested a
response from the Board of Supervisors and invited responses from officials at
the Probation Department, which oversees the juvenile facility.
“I am pleased that the Grand
Jury recognizes the Probation Department’s extensive efforts with our
rehabilitative programming inside juvenile hall, but was surprised that the
Grand Jury came to the conclusion to shut down juvenile hall,” Michael Daly,
the county’s probation director, said in an email. “After I speak to
stakeholders, I will make a recommendation to the Board of Supervisors. I will
begin that process immediately and look forward to responding as soon as
possible.”
June 28, 2015
Marin
Independent Journal
By Gary
Klien
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