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Jail problem needs creative solutions
The world of public finance is so loopy it makes your head spin. For example, Kern County won a state grant for $100 million to build a desperately needed new jail. OK, that’s good, except it’s bad because Kern County would have to come up with $40 million we don’t have to match that grant and $20 million a year we also don’t have to staff and operate it. But wait, there’s more! Since our state legislators are so criminally incompetent they can’t get their budget act together, that grant money (which would have come from bonds yet to be sold) is on ice. That’s bad, except it’s kind of good for Kern County supervisors because it means they won’t have to decide whether to sell local bonds to pay the match and they won’t have to rob Peter to pay Paul, so to speak, in order to fund new jail operations. Meanwhile, Lerdo is busting at the seams, the sheriff is having to knowingly violate a federal court order by filling the maximum-medium dorms without mandated staffing levels, there’ve been two riots since summer in the minimum security section because detentions officers have no place else to stash rival gang bangers and most of the non-violent criminals are only serving 30 percent of their time. That’s bad. And by that, I mean, BAD bad. Oh, and two more goodies are looming on the horizon. The state will likely demand, and soon, the decrepit barracks that make up Lerdo minimum be demolished and rebuilt. AND a three-judge panel is poised to order the state to release massive amounts of prisoners because of inadequate medical facilities in our state prisons. Because Kern County sends the largest percentage of inmates to the big house, we can expect the largest percentage of those lovely folks right back here on our doorstep. “We can’t afford (to fund our share of the new jail) with the economy the way it is,” Sheriff Donny Youngblood told me. “But we can’t afford not to do it, or we’re really not going to have a jail.” And before anyone out there starts quoting internet articles they’ve read about “Sheriff Joe” in Maricopa County, Arizona and his tent jails, this is CALIFORNIA. Youngblood can’t legally throw up a few tents and stick inmates in them. “I would be subjecting this county to extreme financial liability,” Youngblood said. “I get asked about that at every public talk I give.” Instead, he’s doing what he can inside the lines, such as offering some inmates more credit for work release, which keeps them out of the jail. And he’s going to the state Jan. 8 to see if he can get the rules surrounding the $100 million grant changed slightly. The grant doesn’t allow the county to go down in beds, meaning once it’s opened, we can’t shift people from our aging minimum security section to the new beds, which are intended to be for maximum-medium security inmates. But Youngblood is going to ask if we can remove and rebuild one minimum-security barracks a year, at county expense, and move those inmates and staffing temporarily to the new jail. That way, we could work on the barracks problem we know is coming to a head and Youngblood can cut the operations portion of the new jail from $20 million a year to about $10 million a year until all the barracks are replaced. It’s breathing room. Normally, the state would tell us to pound sand. But Youngblood is hoping the fact that most other counties also couldn’t accept the grant money given the current economy will hold some sway. Other than those scanty Band Aids, however, no one is doing anything to really look at “fixing” the prison/jail overcrowding problem. Neither supervisors Don Maben, Mike Maggard nor Ray Watson had too many creative ideas largely because we’re at the mercy of state purse strings and state rules. When I asked whether they were interested in lobbying the state or working with reform groups to get the state to loosen up on how inmates can be housed, Maben likened any such effort to the effectiveness of “howlin’ at the moon.” Other states, including Texas and Kansas, have already implemented creative sentencing/rehabilitation programs to reduce overcrowding. In some cases, they’ve reduced parole and probation violations (a major cause of recidivism), shortened sentences for low-risk inmates who participate in education or counseling while in prison, or diverted thousands of other prisoners, such as DUI offenders, to rehab facilities, saving bed space for the really bad apples. In California, however, our solution has just been to build more prisons without a thought to rehabilitation. Even Youngblood will tell you, as he’s told me repeatedly, we can’t build our way out of this mess. We need better and more early intervention programs to work with youngsters most at risk of going bad, and we need programs for inmates to get driver’s licenses, work training and counseling so that jail and prison don’t become regular flop houses for them. “All it takes is money,” he said. Well, that and leadership, both of which seem to be in short supply with our Legislature. Opinions expressed in this column are those of Lois Henry, not The Bakersfield Californian. Her column appears Wednesdays and Sundays. Comment at people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/noholdsbarred, call her at 395-7373 or e-mail lhenry@bakersfield.com 9 comments from 7 users
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posted by
RedHeadedFred
on Dec 28, 2008 at 01:27 PM
Good article Lois. You dare to write about an important issue that, unfortunately, generates little public interest. The Sheriff has a huge problem on his hands - a problem that has been building for many years. The Sheriff's predecessors failed to address the jail's problems and chose instead to use the jails to generate millions in revenue which was spent on things other than jail conditions. It is a shame that the millions in "profits" that Sheriff Smith and Sparks made via renting out county beds to federal agencies were never re-invested in jail infrastructure. Sheriff Youngblood is now stuck trying to make d0 with a jail system that consists of worn out and inadequate facilities - at a time where no money is available to fix anything. The bottom line is that the taxpayer is the ultimate loser in all this ... early releases make a mockery of justice in this county. One issue not mentioned in your article is the decades old practice of renting out COUNTY jail beds to federal agencies ...sure it generates some revenues which can be used by the BOS as they see fit ... but maybe its high time to abolish that practice and use those jail beds for county inmates?? Any plan to mitigate the jail crisis should involve serious consideration of this matter. posted by
gypsykt
on Dec 28, 2008 at 06:41 PM
Good article Lois. We do need to think out of the box to figure out how to house, feed and provide excellent medical care for these convicts...yes? No. Wake up people. Our state is broke, way too many decent hard-working people losing or have already lost their homes, jobs, etc, and we are worried about housing criminals? Well, we can't have them running loose. So, let's send them off to the front lines in Afghanistan. They're already on the payroll. Instead of our bravest and finest in the line of fire, put the lawbreakers, scammers, outlaws in the middle of this ugly war, and work on creating laws that ship future lawbreakers out of here with no gravy train of 3 meals a day, shelter, medical care, rehab, education, etc unless they prove themselves in battle, behave themselves or come back alive. Get them out of here. Where's my bailout? Gotta go make dinner and get ready for work tomorrow. Would love to write more but I have so much to do around here.
posted by
middlepath
on Dec 28, 2008 at 10:17 PM
We need to use jails and prisons for their intended purpose and develop creative solutions in tandem with that. We should not consider jails and prisons as human dumping grounds without regard to rehabilitation for those who can be rehabilitated and without respect for the consequences of leaving so many human beings in a concentrated criminal environment for an extended period, nor feign surprise when these people return to society and commit more crimes. Surely, we are smarter than this! First, jails and prisons are appropriate for people who must be removed from society because they pose a danger or threat to society. This could be because they have committed a violent crime or have repeated their crimes to the point that conventional discipline or rehabilitation efforts are likely useless. In those cases, such criminals must and should be removed from society until they are rehabilitated or otherwise they should spend the rest of their life in prison, which is entirely appropriate for the worst of the worst. If the individual does not pose a threat or danger to society, either because their crime is victimless, or was non-violent, then they should not be jailed. After all, they're not really being jailed now...doing a fraction of a sentence is hardly doing time at all, especially if the sentence is days, weeks, or a few months in duration. In such cases, the people should be compelled to pay fines or do community service, complete counseling, or some combination thereof. Again, reserve jail and prison space for the violent, dangerous, the unrehabilitated, and incurables. Put the rest to pay fines, complete programs (rehabilitation/education), or public works. Sending criminals to war may have worked in the past where discipline was different, and the rules of war were relaxed, but sending such people today would only create more problems than it's worth for everybody. Compulsory military service could be a viable form of discipline, but only in the rarest of cases, such as for an at-risk (but drug-free) youth who needs to learn discipline away from his neighborhood influences. IMHO... I find it interesting Kern County sends the largest percentage of inmates to prison...that is a story worth reading. Clearly there is an underlying issue that our community should consider. I'm curious to know what it might be. MP posted by
vanityfair
on Dec 28, 2008 at 10:45 PM
Ms. Henry, how many of these inmates are US citizens? Isn't that a valid question? posted by
Lingtaowoo
on Dec 29, 2008 at 06:49 AM
All OUR Sherriff has to do is contact "Sherriff Joe" and they can have the attorneys figure it out...how can Sherriff Joe do this thing and make it work....has Sherriff Youngblood really looked into this thing..has he made calls---or does this go deeper than we know about--say like the construction companies that would build this jail and the monies that they are out of....
posted by
avantichamp
on Dec 30, 2008 at 01:08 PM
Solutions like "Sheriff Joe" not possible in California because of our laws? Maybe if the public wasted less time focusing on trivial issues that interfere with private behavior that's none of their business, strong religious beliefs not withstanding, they could focus on better more effective laws dealing with criminals. Since we have such an abundance of criminals change the laws to allow "dog kennels" (Think Gitmo) to house them and keep them out of circulation. With a cheap and easy solution like that more criminals could find their lives uncomfortable enough they would think twice about behaving badly. Law makers need to pay less attention to criminal rights advocates and more to the basic needs of civilized society. As it is now the slimeballs act on the well founded belief they can abuse others without meaningful consequence.
posted by
RedHeadedFred
on Jan 1, 2009 at 09:52 AM
Well thanks for the attempt for some serious dialogue Lois. Unfortunately, the reference to that screwball AZ Sheriff diverted attention from a serious problem. CA law prohibits a tent city for inmates ... CA jails must be built and operated per strict state standards. I doubt seriously those regulations will ever get changed .. so Sheriff Youngblood is stuck operating in a closely regulated environment. This county has not built any new adult jail beds in 25 years or so. One of its jails was built in the 1950s. The facilities are falling apart and the system lacks enough beds to handle all the violent offenders. Its time to stop renting out beds to the feds and to use all beds for local purposes. Our elected leaders need to figure out a way to leverage that $100 million grant so some sorely-needed new beds can be added to the system. Public safety should always be the cornerstone of public budgets. Youngblood is the only Sheriff in the past 20 years who has even attempted to do something about it. This issue is a community problem that warrants serious, serious attention.
posted by
H8cloz
on Jan 1, 2009 at 10:05 AM
When a society treats criminals with more care and respect than its law abiding citizens, it's time for that society to vanish from the face of the Earth. There are plenty of people out there living in a cardboard box, eating out of trash cans, whose only crime is being poor. Meanwhile, a guy who has burglarized, raped, stolen from or killed someone has a warm bed, three meals and excellent health care. It's things like this which convince me that this country is doomed. posted by
Lingtaowoo
on Jan 11, 2009 at 11:20 AM
Jail use to be a place where no one wants to go to..but now-a-days..it's a haven to kick back-get fed-and wait for your release date...on YOUR dime.... Why is it that OTHER states have a solution and WE don't...law suits?....Our Sheriff said that not too long ago...but other state's jails ARE working..... Make it a working farm again...road crews in chains..C/O's on horseback with shotguns..etc....this isn't the inmates jail--this is the tax-payers jail...time to go to work..and it should be a learning lesson..... That's just my opinion.....
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