A Report by the 2013-2014 Contra Costa County Grand Jury*

Published: June 05, 2014 10 pages

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⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.

⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.

Note: Missing finding numbers detected: F2, F6

Findings and Recommendations 7 findings

The Contra Costa County adult and juvenile facilities are well managed and well maintained by staff who conduct themselves professionally and courteously. Contra Costa County is committed to a policy of providing adult and juvenile prisoners with programs that address their psychological and educational needs to reduce the likelihood that they will reoffend when they are released.

No recommendations for this finding

The County's rehabilitation-oriented philosophy cannot be fully implemented because rehabilitative programs are not available for a substantial number of adult prisoners housed at the Martinez facility.

Related Recommendations (1)

The County should consider preparing a complete application, including the identification of matching funds, when applying for a grant from the State during the next round of funding for the construction of additional detention facilities at West County, in order to provide rehabilitative services to inmates who could be transferred from Martinez.

The Sheriff's Office has applied to the State, unsuccessfully, for funds to build additional cells and program space at the West County facility that would help alleviate the problem of insufficient program space. The next opportunity to secure funding is likely to occur in 2015.

Related Recommendations (1)

The juvenile facilities face challenges in providing adequate rehabilitative services because of a shortage of staff. In 2015, a federal law will begin to be phased in that ultimately require a minimum 1:8 ratio of probation staff to juveniles, which compares favorably to the current ratio of 1:10.

No recommendations for this finding

Adequate mental health services at the Boys' Ranch are now available.

Related Recommendations (1)

The County should consider continuing to make the provision of adequate mental health services at the Boys' Ranch a high priority.

Routine maintenance and repair issues continue to be a constant source of annoyance to inmates/residents and to those responsible for operating both adult and juvenile detention facilities.

Related Recommendations (1)

The County should consider continuing to engage appropriate unions in discussions with respect to using inmate labor to perform maintenance and repairs at county detention facilities.

Absent the availability of more funding to address maintenance and repair needs, the best solution with regard to the adult facilities may would be to make use of inmate labor, as appropriate.

Related Recommendations (1)

The County should consider continuing to engage appropriate unions in discussions with respect to using inmate labor to perform maintenance and repairs at county detention facilities.

Additional Recommendations 1

These recommendations are not explicitly linked to specific findings.

R2

The County should analyze ways to provide additional staffing at the juvenile facilities to comply with upcoming federal mandates.

Agency Responses 1

Government agencies' official responses to this report's findings and recommendations. Click on a response to see the structured breakdown.

Sheriff Office

June 30, 2014 • 6 pages • 5 responses • Score: +2 (+2, 3, 0) View Details ▾

PDF

5 responses to findings and recommendations

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

Partially Disagree. While the Sheriff's Office concurs that its staff members are professional and courteous, and that they manage the facilities well; the maintenance of the facilities is lacking - through no fault of staff. The amount of deferred maintenance to the facilities, and the significant impact, or potential impact that maintenance has on the safety and security of the facilities should not be overlooked. The management of the facilities and the wellbeing of inmates and staff would be significantly improved by addressing these maintenance issues. Finding No. 3 Programs aimed at re...

Response: Will Implement

Scheduled: fiscal year 2014/15 Score: +1

The recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be implemented in the future as the next round of State grant application begins - likely in the Fall of 2014. The Sheriff's Office continues to work with consultants in preparing a thorough, appropriate and complete application and has dedicated command staff to facilitate the process. The Sheriff's Office will seek approval from the Board of Supervisors for the required commitment to matching funds. CONTRA COSTA COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY REPORT NO. 1408 "CONTRA COSTA COUNTY DETENTION FACILITIES?" <b>BOARD OF SUPERVISORS' RESPONSE</b> F...

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

Agree Finding No. 4 The Sheriff's Office was not successful in securing award of state funding to build additional cells and program space at the West County Detention Facility to aid in providing programs. Response: Agree (Findings No. <math>5 - 8</math> refer to juvenile facilities) Finding No. 9 Absent more funding for maintenance and repair needs, adult facilities should make use of inmate labor as appropriate. Response: Agree . RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendation No. 1: The County, with the Sheriff's Office, should prepare a complete application, identifying matching funds, for the next...

Response: Agree Score: +1

Absent the availability of more funding to address maintenance and repair needs, the best solution with regard to the adult facilities may would be to make use of inmate labor, as appropriate.

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

Agree . RECOMMENDATIONS Recommendation No. 1: The County, with the Sheriff's Office, should prepare a complete application, identifying matching funds, for the next round of State grant funding to build additional cells and program space at the West County Detention Facility to aid in providing programs and rehabilitative services to inmates who could be transferred from Martinez. Response: The recommendation has not yet been implemented, but will be implemented in the future as the next round of State grant application begins - likely in the Fall of 2014. The Sheriff's Office continues to ...

No Responses Found 1

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

Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors Elected County Office

* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.