Score: +3 (3/6/0)

Butte County Grand Jury • 2007-2008

Butte County Jail Butte County Grand Jury Report Butte County Jail*

Published: June 17, 2008 15 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.

Findings and Recommendations 5 findings

in the Grand Jury's opinion, one concern remains - evidence, stored as biological materials in the building's huge freezers, is at risk of being compromised should the freezers fail.

Related Recommendations (1)

An automatic alarm system should be installed and activated to report, perhaps at Central Control, a failure of the large freezers in the Evidence Building. This is especially important during the summer months, and would allow duty personnel to respond in a timely manner to system failures in order to preserve biological materials stored there.

The women's section in the "old jail" still does not meet the definition of an adequate humane environment even though staff has done everything reasonable to make it so. The solution lies in acquiring funds for a 25% match to a portion of the 4.1 billion dollars being made available in Assembly Bill 900 for the construction of new local jail space. BUTTE COUNTY JAIL The staffing level of Central Control has been a concern as far back as the 1998 –

Related Recommendations (1)

While the increase in the Jail Impact Fees approved by the Butte County BOS on July 10, 2007, is a major step forward, the Grand Jury wishes to take this opportunity to recommend that the incorporated towns and cities contribute to this shared, local need by collecting their own impact fees. These additional fees, collected within the incorporated areas, should insure prompt success in achieving AB900 funding to help alleviate the substandard conditions for women inmates in our county. At the least video monitoring and phone answering responsibilities should be

1999 Grand Jury Report which read "The inmate monitoring station is understaffed. One officer should not be expected to adequately observe the activities of the many inmates." In response a request was made in that year's budget presentation to the BOS. The Grand Jury observed one officer still assigned to observe 2 large monitors containing a total of 25 (16 + 9) smaller screens. Added to this was the responsibility for answering a nearby phone where, according to jail staff, about 85% of the incoming calls to the facility are received. The length, readability, and complexity of the Jail Information Handbook provide

Related Recommendations (1)

divided among two persons, rather than one, for the safety and security of both staff and BUTTE COUNTY JAIL inmates. Daytime operations are busiest at the jail and should get first consideration for extra assistance. If inmates must reference alleged violations in grievances to a specific

significant difficulties in comprehension, and therefore usability, by many inmates. Grievances are sometimes denied because "You have failed to comply with Section II, Procedure 04 (located on ) of the Jail Information Handbook, in that you have not referenced what constitutional right, state or federal law, Board of Corrections - Title 15 section number, or Departmental policy or rule that has been violated. No further action will be taken on this grievance as you have exhausted your administrative remedy."

Related Recommendations (1)

"constitutional right, state or federal law, Board of Corrections - Title 15 section number, or Department policy or rule", assistance should be provided by an intermediary because of the general inability for many inmates to comprehend such a vast array of legal material. Legal Services of Northern California or the Community Legal Information Center at CSU, Chico, for example, might be queried as to availability for such intervention services. Denying grievances on the aforementioned basis raises questions of unfairness. Additionally, the Jail Information Handbook is capable of being simplified and shortened to avoid this perception by ensuring an adequate comprehension level and increased usability in the hands of most inmates. County resources available for accomplishing such a task might be found among the Butte County Office of Education or the District Attorney's office. A Spanish version, as is the current practice, should continue to be made available. The Butte County Sheriff, or designee, should consider how a comprehensive

Deaths in custody might better be prevented if a comprehensive and enforceable policy were in place that required reporting to the Jail Commander when self-threats occur during, for example, preliminary and other judicial hearings while in custody, interrogations/questioning by law enforcement and related agencies prior to as well as during custody, and interviews/consultations by attorneys such as public defenders that also take place during custody. Such a policy might be modeled after the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Law first passed in 1963 by the California Attorney General's Office. Originally only physicians were included in this law but later a very comprehensive list of mandated reporters emerged as well as serious penalties for failures to report.

Related Recommendations (1)

policy of notification to jail personnel, when self-threats are made by detainees outside of the jail facility or environment, might effectively be implemented and enforced to help preserve and enhance the excellent safety record of the BCSO Corrections Division.

Agency Responses 2

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

City of Chico

November 05, 2008 • 2 pages • 2 responses • Score: +1 (+1, 1, 0) View Details ▾

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2 responses to findings and recommendations

Response: Agree Score: +1

Respondent neither agrees nor disagrees in that it has not been provided with information on the condition of this Butte County facility, nor on the cost to improve the facility in order to meet the definition of an adequate humane environment. Recommendation (R2-Page 48): While the increase in the Jail Impact Fees approved by the Butte County BOS on July 10, 2007, is a major step forward, the Grand Jury wishes to take this opportunity to recommend that the incorporated towns and cities contribute to this shared, local need by collecting their own impact fees. These additional fees, collected ...

Response: Requires Analysis

Score: 0

Implementation of this recommendation requires further analysis which cannot be completed within the required six month period from the publication of the Grand Jury report. Respondent is unaware of any City employees who were interviewed by the Grand Jury to understand the City's current position on this matter. Made From Recycled Paper Responses to 2007-08 Grand Jury Report November 5, 2008 Page 2 On November 13, 2007, the City Council's Internal Affairs Committee considered a request from Butte County that the City collect County development impact fees for library facilities, materials, a...

Sheriff

July 16, 2008 • 5 pages • 10 responses • Score: +2 (+2, 5, 0) View Details ▾

PDF

10 responses to findings and recommendations

in the Grand Jury's opinion, one concern remains - evidence, stored as biological materials in the building's huge freezers, is at risk of being compromised should the freezers fail.

Response: Agree Score: +1

We agree with this finding. RECOMMENDATION - R1: "An automatic alarm system should be installed and activated to report, perhaps at Central Control, a failure of the large freezers in the Evidence Building. This is especially important during the summer months, and would allow duty personnel to respond in a timely manner to system failures in order to preserve biological materials stored there."

Response: Requires Analysis

Score: 0

The recommendation requires further analysis in part. During normal business hours, the Evidence Facility has an Evidence Technician in place, the majority of the time, who's duties include being aware of the status of the freezers and refrigerators that contain evidence (6). Outside of these hours is when the concern arises. It is noted that there was an electrical failure to a freezer several years ago, and fortunately we were able to establish that no viable evidence was lost due to that failure. Over the past three years we have purchased new equipment that is now in place; all first-rate ...

Response: Agree Score: +1

We agree with this finding. RECOMMENDATION - R2: "While the increase in the Jail Impact Fees approved by the Butte County BOS on July 10, 2007, is a major step forward, the Grand Jury wishes to take this opportunity to recommend that the incorporated towns and cities contribute to this shared, local need by collecting their own impact fees. These additional fees, collected within the incorporated areas, should insure prompt success in achieving AB900 funding to help alleviate the substandard conditions for women inmates in our county."

Response: Requires Analysis

Score: 0

This recommendation requires further analysis, in so far as this office is not able, aside from voicing support for the recommendation, to influence the decision of the independent political entities involved. It must be noted that AB900 ($1.2 BILLION) established a complex, phased process for the allocation of construction funding, involving a number of State and local governmental agencies, with a variety of stipulations and requirements that dictate what hoops must be jumped through to be considered for "the prize", who gets what, how much, and when. Butte County was not successful in our f...

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

We partially disagree with this finding. RECOMMENDATION - R3: "At the least video monitoring and phone answering responsibilities should be divided among two persons, rather than one, for the safety and security of both staff and 3 inmates. Daytime operations are busiest at the jail and should get first consideration for extra assistance."

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

We agree that there is a workload issue at Central Control, but we believe the assignment is overtaxed with responsibility as opposed to being understaffed. This seemingly fine distinction is made because we believe that technological renovation and redistribution of assigned tasks can resolve the current situation without an increase in staff. To this end, we are redesigning the office to improve its "ergonomic viability". We have installed a telephone tree to provide a variety of information about inmates (our most common phone queries - housing, bail, visiting, mail, alternative sentencing ...

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

We partially disagree with this finding. RECOMMENDATION - R4: "If inmates must reference alleged violations in grievances to a specific "constitutional right, state or federal law, Board of Corrections - Title 15 section number, or Department policy or rule," assistance should be provided by an intermediary because of the general inability for many inmates to comprehend such a vast array of legal material. Legal Services of Northern California or the Community Legal Information Center at CSU Chico, for example, might be queried as to availability of such intervention services. Denying grievanc...

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

The current inmate grievance process, including the entire Jail Information Handbook, are examples of documents, living documents if you will, that have evolved into their present form over a number of years. This process was not an attempt to preclude "fairness", but to generalize a process and to be all inclusive, thus safeguarding the rights of the entirety of the 4 inmate population. Two of the compelling factors that have influenced this metamorphosis are the vexatious litigiousness of some inmates, and our desire to secure approval for significant change through class attorneys represen...

Response: Disagree Partially Score: 0

We partially disagree with this finding. RECOMMENDATION - R5: "The Butte County Sheriff, or designee, should consider how a comprehensive policy of notification to jail personnel, when self-threats are made by detainees outside of the jail facility or environment, might effectively be implemented and enforced to help preserve and enhance the excellent safety record of the BCSO Corrections Division".

Response: Unknown

Score: 0

There are few issues indeed, which are as important to our personnel as their safety and security or that of those entrusted to our care. We train on the various aspects of this issue on a continual basis. We are proactive in seeking further information or guidance as differing theories or concepts evolve dealing with the symptomology of those at risk. This applies to many other members of this office, not just those assigned to the Corrections division, as we know that self destructive ideation and acting out occurs during different phases of our public contacts. The recent incidents evaluate...

No Responses Found 4

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

Biggs City

Gridley City

Oroville City

Town of Paradise Town

* 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.