JAIL NEEDS ASSESSMENT: Recently, Sheriff Lopey
reported to the Board of Supervisors on a study that the County had commissioned on future
jail needs. The report supports building additional capacity for 279 beds in total to
accommodate expected jail needs by 2020. It recommends using the current 104 bed facility
for offenders serving time for misdemeanors such as DUI - Driving Under the Influence and
petty theft, as well as those on day reporting for work and other alternative sentencing
programs. Mental health treatment and rehabilitative services and classes could be
co-located at this facility. The remaining beds would be constructed in a new facility on
another (as yet unselected) site. This would have a spoke and hub type design that could
be expanded in the distant future (50-70 years.)
Current facilities have been used mostly to house felons awaiting
trial (about 85%.) Current daily population is in excess of 90 inmates with about 18%
there for probation violations and 8% for parole violations. Those committing misdemeanors
are generally booked in and out, with many
diverted to the day work program, home incarceration or drug treatment. Many are released
after sentencing, scheduled to return to serve their sentences in as many as six months
down the road. About 40% of these offenders never return voluntarily and are sought under
warrant. About 70% of inmates re-offend, creating a revolving door effect.
The County jail needs major roof repair and new electrical wiring
estimated to cost about $200,000. The layout of the jail is not conducive to monitoring
the activities of serious offenders. Realignment of “non-violent” offenders from
the State prison system has highlighted jail inadequacies. What is needed is more of a
mini prison facility. The new prisoners are more likely to have gang affiliations,
necessitating that they be separated. (It is
assumed that every prisoner realigned to County jails from the state prison system has
been affiliated with a gang for self-protection.) They are also more likely to be
sophisticated career criminals. There are only 45 high risk beds available in the current
facility. Many of the “segregation cells” built to house the “worst of the
worst” are currently being used to house prisoners with mental health issues. Hard core criminals are being housed with other
populations in dorm type cells.
The crime rate appears to have been trending upward prior to
realignment. From 2006 to 2009, violent crimes (homicide, forcible rape, robbery and
aggravated assault) have gone from 153 to 183 incidences. Property crimes (burglary,
non-vehicle theft and larceny) have gone from 427 to 447 cases. Under current conditions,
crowding has been such that felons have been released early to make room for incoming
inmates. Domestic violence offenders used to be kept in jail until their court dates, are
now released. It was thought that with
realignment, the maximum sentence served locally would be three years, with those above
that threshold being sent to State prison. However, split and consecutive sentencing of three years or less has created
situations where prisoners may serve their time in local jail in excess of three years.
(For instance, Santa Barbara County now has an inmate serving 20 years.)
The State grant being applied for by Siskiyou County s Board of
Supervisors to construct the new facility would require about a one million dollar match
from County funds. The Sheriff feels that he can come up with that match. The increased
staffing to run the new facility would cost an additional $2 million a year. However,
funding expected by the Sheriff from AB 900 should help fund more staff. In addition, AB
109 tax initiatives would provide additional funds. If selected for the facilities
building grant, it would take from 3-5 years to see completion.
STRATEGIC GROWTH COUNCIL GRANT:
Siskiyou County is a member of the seven-county North Coast Integrated Regional Water
Management Planning Council (NCIRWMP). Recently, the council made application for a
Strategic Growth Council grant. Strings on the grant would have required the review of
existing land use plans and policies and the updating of the County’s General Plan
following templates to meet “sustainable communities” objectives. The grant
would fund the development of a regional Greenprint, Climate Adaptation Plan, Regional
Climate Mitigation Plan and creation of climate action plans. The grant would also assess
and map ecosystems and “natural infrastructure’ for the purposes of adequate
protection and conservation.
After considering the “strings” attached to the grant, the
Board of Supervisors unanimously decided to opt out of any of the grant funding with such
strings, leaving the door open for discrete project funding only – such as completing
a loop in broadband service or funding a district sewage facility.
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