Napa County Grand Jury • 2015-2016

Napa County Jail & Department of Corrections-It is Time for Change at the Napa County Jail

Published: June 28, 2016 13 pages
Ver PDF original

Findings and Recommendations 9 findings

F1
There is an appearance of management style and behavior that results in employees feeling intimidated, isolated and undervalued. Based on its witness interviews and review of documentary evidence, the Grand Jury is concerned that, if unchecked, this may result in continued operational issues and continued attrition of qualified personnel from an already understaffed group.
Related Recommendations (3)
R1
The County Board of Supervisors should enhance its oversight of the NCJ to ensure that it is operating properly, including assigning a senior staff person to comprehensively 11 review the operation of the jail and to provide a written report of findings no later than April 1, 2017.
R2
The Board of Supervisors should retain a management consultant to work with jail leadership on operational, administrative and workforce issues.
R5
The County Board of Supervisors should establish a multi-year Citizen’s Oversight Committee by December 31, 2016. The BOS should assure that there is no retribution to staff from the committee’s findings. COMMENDATION The County Board of Supervisors should commend the Correctional Officers for excelling in an extremely difficult environment.
F2
NCJ polices and operational procedures are in place, but are not always followed or are inconsistently applied. This ranges from policies that are applied differently from shift to shift depending on the supervisor to policies that simply are not enforced, to policies that are enforced differently against different employees.
Related Recommendations (3)
R1
The County Board of Supervisors should enhance its oversight of the NCJ to ensure that it is operating properly, including assigning a senior staff person to comprehensively 11 review the operation of the jail and to provide a written report of findings no later than April 1, 2017.
R2
The Board of Supervisors should retain a management consultant to work with jail leadership on operational, administrative and workforce issues.
R5
The County Board of Supervisors should establish a multi-year Citizen’s Oversight Committee by December 31, 2016. The BOS should assure that there is no retribution to staff from the committee’s findings. COMMENDATION The County Board of Supervisors should commend the Correctional Officers for excelling in an extremely difficult environment.
F3
There are no standard operating procedures in place defining the relationships among the NCJ staff and outside medical and mental health providers.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
The manner in which the jail is managed has engendered low morale on the part of at least some, if not most, staff and correctional officers.
Related Recommendations (3)
R1
The County Board of Supervisors should enhance its oversight of the NCJ to ensure that it is operating properly, including assigning a senior staff person to comprehensively 11 review the operation of the jail and to provide a written report of findings no later than April 1, 2017.
R2
The Board of Supervisors should retain a management consultant to work with jail leadership on operational, administrative and workforce issues.
R5
The County Board of Supervisors should establish a multi-year Citizen’s Oversight Committee by December 31, 2016. The BOS should assure that there is no retribution to staff from the committee’s findings. COMMENDATION The County Board of Supervisors should commend the Correctional Officers for excelling in an extremely difficult environment.
F5
Correctional Officer retention is an issue, as 40% of the existing officers have less than five (5) years in service.
Related Recommendations (1)
R3
Compensation and benefits for Correctional Officers should be analyzed to determine the incentive package necessary to attract new career officers and retain existing officers.
F6
Recruitment is a problem at all levels at the NCJ. The jail has not been fully staffed for at least three years.
Related Recommendations (2)
R3
Compensation and benefits for Correctional Officers should be analyzed to determine the incentive package necessary to attract new career officers and retain existing officers.
R4
Staffing should be made an immediate priority, including a full staff of Correctional Officers, and a bilingual FMHC.
F7
Rehabilitation programs have been discontinued to the detriment of the inmate population and the public at large.
No recommendations for this finding
F8
A new jail is needed.
No recommendations for this finding
F9
Correctional Officers and staff, at least for the time being, continue to be invested and interested in their positions and committed to making the best of the challenging situation created by organizational issues and poor facilities.
No recommendations for this finding

Commendations 1

No Responses Found 2

Government entities assigned to respond to this report. No response documents have been linked in our database.

Napa County County
Napa County Board of Supervisors Elected County Office