Riverside County Law Enforcement

The BCF, with present staffing, houses 520 inmates. Using staff from other facilities, on an overtime basis, two additional units have been opened to provide housing for a total of 630 inmates at BCF.

The prisoner classification process typically limits the occupancy rate at the jails from 96 to 98 percent. For various reasons, inmates may not be safely placed in the same housing units. The problems associated with classification, court requirements and overcrowding are addressed with a transportation system that is constantly relocating inmates.

A person is not always placed in jail as a result of booking at any of the five county jails. Persons cited and released: RPDC accounted for 45 percent of the releases in 1996 and 1997.

Inmates in the county jail system may receive a federally-mandated early release due to lack of space. Releases were: 1996 - felony = 53, misdemeanor = 390 1997 - felony = 7, misdemeanor = 414

Police officials have stated that the cost of booking causes a person to be cited and released when, in some cases, they should be booked into jail. This has a direct effect on the file of outstanding warrants. When a person cited fails to appear in court as directed, a warrant is issued. Some annual booking fee costs to Riverside County cities are: Riverside $540,000 Moreno Valley $280,000 Temecula $135,000

Booking fees vary from county to county within the State of California: Riverside $110.40 San Diego $154.00 San $159.72 Bernardino Los Angeles $133.52/$145.84 Was $176, but recently removed as taxes collected are sufficient to fund the cost Orange of the jails. Ventura $120, assessed to individuals at time of sentencing.

Crimes are not always committed by criminals where they reside, but the resulting booking fees are a cost to the city where they are arrested.

Palm Springs has attempted to reduce the effects of the cost of booking fees by establishing a jail that is qualified to house arrestees until arraignment. Arraignment is simplified by use of a video camera system connected to the Indio Court. If persons are released by the court, they are released at the Palm Springs Jail, eliminating transportation costs. If confined after arraignment, the arrestee is the responsibility of the court. Transportation is the responsibility of the sheriff who books the arrestee into the county jail at no further cost. Some persons will be booked immediately into the county jail system. In this case, Palm Springs will transport and pay the standard booking fee. To reduce operating costs by more than $100,000 annually, Palm Springs contracted with a private firm to supply personnel to operate the jail.

Cathedral City and Desert Hot Springs police agencies contract with Palm Springs for the use of their jail. Cathedral City contracts to pay a $30,000 annual payment for the first 300 bookings and $100 per booking thereafter. Desert Hot Springs pays $110 per booking. These two cities combined provide close to $100,000 annually toward the cost of operating the Palm Springs Jail.

Cathedral City is building a new police facility scheduled to open in July 1998. A decision was made to increase the number of jail cells from two to five and build to Type-I jail specifications at the new facility. This decision was made, in part, because of the uncertainty of the effects of booking fees in the future.

In 1991, the City of San Diego began a program to address the process of cite and release within their city. A 200-bed jail facility was built, in partnership with a private firm, to house misdemeanor cases. The private firm then contracted to manage and operate the jail for a monthly fee. To date, warrants have been reduced from approximately 800,000 to approximately 200,000 since the jail was opened in 1992.

Activity in the file of outstanding warrants maintained by RCSD has been: Warrants entered and still active: 1996 - 19,163 1997 - 26,802 Warrants served: 1996 - 34,743 Presently, there are 26,295 individual active cases with two to nine warrants each; 1,542 of these cases have five or more warrants each.

California Penal Code Section 1214.1 permits a civil assessment of up to $250 against any defendant who fails to appear after being notified. Riverside County does not presently use this assessment.

Disrespect for the judicial system occurs when the options for sentencing are limited. The caseload for the probation department, at all levels, is at a point where probation officers are not able to monitor effectively, including the intensive surveillance program.

RPDC records show that the number of illegal aliens released to the border patrol, after court proceedings or incarceration, were: 1996 - 233 1997 - 193 In fiscal year 1996-97, during the booking process, approximately 1,690 persons were identified as possible illegal aliens. One-third of the cost of incarcerating illegal aliens was reimbursed in 1997 by the federal government.

The California Department of Corrections (CDC) contracts with private firms to provide a number of medium community correctional facilities within the State of California. A private firm contracts to operate the jail facility with CDC providing personnel to provide general oversight and ensure that adequate security is provided. A state correctional facility is located at Eagle Mountain, between Indio and Blythe. This facility is operated at a cost of $34 per day, per bed. This year, CDC has initiated a "request for proposal" to private firms to provide up to 5,000 beds statewide. The number of beds per contract may be limited to 500.

California Government Code Section 23013 states: "The board of supervisors of any county may, by resolution, establish a department of corrections, to be headed by an officer appointed by the board, which shall have jurisdiction over all county functions, personnel, and facilities, or so many as the board names in its resolution, relating to institutional punishment, care, treatment, and rehabilitation of prisoners, including, but not limited to, the county jail and industrial farms and road camps, their functions and personnel. The boards of supervisors of two or more counties may, by agreement and the enactment of ordinances in conformity thereto, establish a joint department of corrections to serve all the counties included in the agreement, to be headed by an officer appointed by the boards jointly."