Board of Supervisors*

There is currently an estimated 80 percent recidivism rate among inmates. Response, Director of Corrections: The Director of Corrections disagrees with this finding. There are different standards by which various jurisdictions measure recidivism rates. Some are based upon arrests only while others rely on conviction within a certain period of time. The timeframe is also varied by jurisdiction as some agencies consider three years as the relevant period for determining recidivism while others have lower timeframes. Napa County has not specified a timeframe by which recidivism rates will be tracked nor has the definition for measuring recidivism in Napa County been determined, thus the County of Napa has not yet stated an actual recidivism rate. It is unclear how the Grand Jury estimated the above-mentioned recidivism rate as there is no data provided to support this claim, nor does the Grand Jury define what it means by "recidivism."

The NCJ does not have the staff or capacity to house pre-sentenced mentally ill patients who commit violent crimes at Napa State Hospital. Response, Director of Corrections. The Director of Corrections agrees with this finding. The Napa County Department of Corrections does house pre-sentenced, seriously mentally ill patients accused of committing crimes at Napa State Hospital. Over the past two years, the Department of Corrections has seen an increase in the number of incidents related to this population. The Department of Corrections is not a mental health facility and therefore is not required to provide the same level of support and services that this population receives when housed at the Napa State Hospital. The intensive level of mental health support provided to this population is drastically reduced once Napa State Hospital patients are housed at the jail. The Department of Corrections meets the mental health provision standards for jail facilities as defined in Title 15 and 24 of the California Code of Regulations. County staff has been diligent in providing the needed services to the extent possible. Nevertheless, the jail will most certainly lack the level of service that the mental health hospital can provide. Please see the Department's response to

Ten percent of the staff is bi-lingual; however, many inmates speak Spanish only. Response, Director of Corrections: The Director of Corrections agrees with this finding. The Department of Corrections always recruits in an attempt to create a diverse staff that meet the demographics of the population. We have a number of staff that are bi-lingual and able to address the needs of the inmate population. In addition to the line staff, we also have support staff and supervisors that are bi-lingual. This has not been an issue of concern to the Department. The Department of Corrections will continue to attract highly capable staff with specialized skills including the ability to communicate in Spanish as positions become vacant. Please see the Department's response to Recommendation 3 for additional information.

There are currently no pre-release programs to integrate inmates into the community. Response, Director of Corrections: The Director of Corrections disagrees with this finding. The Community Corrections Service Center (CCSC) opened on March 1, 2009 and now includes a program for in-custody inmates and has the ability to serve pre- sentenced inmates as part of a pre-release program. Additionally, as part of the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 budget, the Department of Corrections has made the recommendation to reclassify positions in order to create a classification team that would be instrumental in providing evidence based assessments to assist with making decisions about which pre- trial inmates could safely be integrated in the community pending the adjudication process. The Director of Corrections does agree that additional pre-release programs are needed and the Department of Corrections is working with the Criminal Justice Committee on improving this area.

The current configuration of the NCJ cannot accommodate the number and classification of inmates. Response, Director of Corrections: The Director of Corrections disagrees in part and agrees in part with this finding. The jail does have challenges with regard to classification and population concerns. The Adult Correctional System Master Plan has identified issues related to the ability of the current jail configuration to continue to meet the housing classification and population needs. The Criminal Justice Committee has worked with jail facility consultants to identify these issues and propose a remodeled or replacement facility that addresses the appropriate mix of beds needed to meet the County's needs. Given that any new jail facility would not be open for several more years, the Department of Corrections has implemented policies to minimize the impacts of these issues. For example, the Director of Corrections has the authority under Penal Code Sections 4024.1 and 4018.6 to authorize a 5-day or 3-day early release when certain situations, in some cases including overcrowding in either the housing unit or jail facility, exist. The Department has been conducting regular county parole hearings and is moving steadily towards using electronic monitoring as a standard tool in some instances to reduce crowding. Additionally, the Director of Corrections has proposed a small reorganization to create a classification team within the Department of Corrections. Once implemented, this team will begin reviewing evidence based classification instruments and be responsible for appropriately classifying each inmate in the facility. Given that the current system in place is outdated, this may help address some of the issues currently identified. Both the Department of Corrections and the County Executive Office monitor the jail population daily. While there have been some days over the last year where the jail population has spiked considerably, the average daily population has remained well below the 264 bed capacity. The Director of Corrections will continue to monitor these issues closely.

Evidence Based Programs as recommended by the Napa County Adult Correctional System Mater Plan do not yet exist. Response, Director of Corrections: The Director of Corrections agrees in part and disagrees in part with this finding. The Community Corrections Service Center, opened March 1, 2009, includes an in-custody component. The program is evidence based and is new. The Department of Corrections has cancelled all non-evidence based programming in the jail and has created an Evidence Based Programs Jail Committee to identify programs that we might implement at the jail based upon our staffing and special needs. The committee will evaluate programs at other jails and will make recommendations to the Director of Corrections. Please see the Department's response to Recommendation 1 for additional information.

Parolee services and CCSC located in downtown Napa pose a potential public safety concern. Response, Director of Corrections. The Director of Corrections disagrees with this finding. Parolee services have been provided at the Hall of Justice for a number of years and to our knowledge, have not resulted in any public safety issues. The Grand Jury report references approximately 300 parolees standing in line for weekly drug testing outside of the Hall of Justice. It is unclear how this number was determined. A 2007 report (most recent available) from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation indicates that there are only 197 parolees in Napa County. It is the Department of Corrections belief that only 25-30 parolees report to the Hall of Justice each week to meet with the parole officer. It is acknowledged that the public perception of a large number of parolees standing outside the Hall of Justice for drug testing might be negative. Parole agents incharge of the Napa location were also advised of this concern. To alleviate the immediate concern, the parolee drug testing times were moved to non-business hours. The location is ideal as most parolees are also part of our local criminal justice system and often have business in court and report to the Probation Department. Due to the limited public transportation available throughout the County, moving the parolee services outside of the downtown area may create significant transportation barriers to the parolees. The Community Corrections Service Center (CCSC) clients are supervised by the CCSC staff and are under the general supervision of the Probation Department. Again, the Department of Corrections is unaware of any public safety issues to date. If there were any incidents, this location provides for immediate law enforcement response through Sheriff's Deputies assigned to the courts as well as the Napa Police Department.

There is no Information Technology Department support to maintain and repair the computer system, which controls the locking system, intercoms, security cameras, and elevators. Response, Director of Corrections.: The Director of Corrections agrees with this finding. The support to maintain and repair the master control system rests with an outside vendor. The Director of Corrections has had some initial discussion with the Napa County Information Technology Services Division concerning the feasibility of obtaining some support during emergencies and other events. Please see the Department's response to Recommendation 6 for additional information.