Contra Costa County Civil Grand Jury Report No. 2006

R1

The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors consider directing the Contra Costa County Probation Department to acquire and install a case management system to compile data on recidivism and program effectiveness by June 30, 2021. The system would also facilitate coordination of post-release services for youth with other agencies. Response: The recommendation will be implemented by September 2021. The County has tentatively identified a proposed vendor and will be finalizing the contract in the coming months, with development efforts commencing Fall 2020. The Probation Department and Public Defender Office case management systems will need to go live at the same time; work orders have been submitted for the necessary data exports. System is expected to go live in September 2021. The Superior Court plans to go live with their new system in December of 2021, and the Probation and the Public Defender are scheduled to go live prior to the Court. The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors consider directing the Contra Costa County Probation Department hire a case manager to coordinate the use of the case management system by June 30, 2021. Response: The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted or is not reasonable. The County in currently under a hiring freeze resulting from the unprecedented budgetary impacts related to COVID- 19. The Probation Department has however identified a Probation Director to serve as the department lead administrator and subject matter expert on this project, working closely with the assigned analysts from the County Administrators Office. The department has also enhanced its training operations, which will be essential to the successful roll out and implementation of the case management system. Lastly, to ensure adherence to the timeline, the department is prepared to reassign additional staff to meet any additional staffing needs resulting from this project.

R3

The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors consider directing the Contra Costa County Health Services Department to hire additional mental health care staff to reduce the wait time for post- release services for youth and families, by June 30, 2021. Response: The recommendation requires further analysis. By November 27, 2020, the Health Services Department will review the wait times for post- release mental health services and will assess staffing needs or if other action could be taken to reduce the wait time or to expand availability.

R4

The Grand Jury recommends that the Board of Supervisors consider directing the Contra Costa County Probation Department to evaluate the propriety of relocating girls in detention with low-level offences to Orin Allen Youth rehabilitation Facility, by June 30, 2021. Response: The recommendation will not be implemented because it is not warranted or is not reasonable. Relocating low-level female detainees to Orin Allen Rehabilitative Facility is cost prohibitive. Significant physical and structural renovations as well as programmatic revisions would be required to safely operate a co-ed facility at that location. Furthermore, the population of girls that are in the Juvenile Hall continues to decline, and we anticipate this trend to continue as additional diversion and detention alternatives are implemented throughout Contra Costa County.