A new Santa Barbara County Grand Jury report highlights the conditions and management of detention facilities within the County. The Jury found that some detention facilities need to be updated, issues identified in the past continue to be unresolved, and suggested various recommendation to alleviate these problems.
The report found the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Coroner's Office facility to pose some health risks and urge the County Board of Supervisors to allocate funding for construction of a new facility. Currently, the facility's "Ventilation in the autopsy room continues to be deficient...the stench can be so bad that employees have had to stand in the parking lot in order to continue working," says the report. Additionally, the lack of a "transition room" for staff to remove protective clothing and clean up means that they must do this task in the open outside the building.
The Jury also found that the problem of overcrowding persists at the Santa Barbara County Main Jail. It found that some areas of the jail have insufficient video monitoring, and that some inmates sleep in plastic "beds" known as "boats" precisely due to overcrowding. The Jury notes that the overcrowding issue results in many unfavorable conditions at the jail even though "The staff was professional and the jail seemed to be well run."
Understaffing continues to be an issue and, "The Jury recognizes the challenges that the decreased staffing has created and commends the staff for the professional manner in which they handle their law enforcement activities."
The Santa Barbara Court Holding Facility on Figueroa Street was also found to be inadequate as "Deputies constantly have to shuffle the inmates due to lack of space. Inmates in restraints have to be walked across Figueroa Street to the courtroom, posing a security and safety risk to the public."
Other facilities that the Jury found to be in need of an immediate improvement include the Lompoc Police Department facility and the Lompoc Court holding facility.
Not everything in the report was negative, however. The Grand Jury praised law enforcement in New Cuyama as a model for "True community policing," The two deputies assigned to the New Cuyama substation were born and raised in the town of 510 residents (2010 U.S. Census) and as such, were active members of the community resulting in fewer arrests.
Los Prietos Boys Camp also received praise from the Grand Jury calling the camp, "A model for what can be done to help troubled youth in contrast to incarceration only."
Grand Jury recommendations to alleviate many of the issues they've identified include:
• That the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's staff regularly monitor and maintain the new drug drop-off boxes throughout the County.
• The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors immediately allocate funding for a new Coroner's facility.
• The Santa Barbara County Sheriff obtain and install video recording equipment in the Lompoc Court Holding Facility.
• The Lompoc City Council provide funding for the police department to purchase commercial-grade refrigeration and freezers that will meet current and future needs for evidence storage.
• and that the Lompoc City Council update or replace the current police department building.
May 24, 2016
KEYT-KCOY-KKFX
By Oscar Flores
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