Findings and Recommendations F1: The Corrections Division is understaffed, and its reliance on overtime is not

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The County of San Benito should make staffing its jail system and reopening the Curtis J. Hill Rehabilitation Center a top priority for the upcoming fiscal year. This requires increasing the Corrections Division staff size enough to maintain jail operations, ensure effective oversight, offer rehabilitative services, and safely open the center. This can be approached in a number of ways but unavoidably necessitates greater support and dedicated resource allocation. SHERIFF RESPONSE – THIS RECOMMENDATION REQUIRES FURTHER ANALYSIS I do feel the BOS has taken this issue seriously but am not happy with the expediency with which the addition of staff is occurring. Chair Kosmicki and Supervisor Zanger met with me last year to discuss recruitment/retention strategies. They both championed, and we later ratified, a re-class of jail staff that has helped with both recruitment and retention as it has raised the pay of the Correctional Officers significantly. The second issue is the addition of staff to safely operate the Main Jail and the Curtis J Hill Center for Rehabilitation. The State of California Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) has made a recommendation we have a minimum of forty (40) Correctional Officers on staff per Title 15 requirements. Currently we have allocations for twenty-nine (29), with ten (10) openings of which four (4) are frozen. That means we have only half the recommended staff for safe operations. Current minimum staffing levels are met each shift as they are supplemented frequently with overtime shifts to allow us to be complaint with Title 15 and the BSCC. We would like to increase staffing in order to reduce overtime costs and also begin to use the two unused housing units in the Curtis J Hill Center for Rehabilitation. We must continue to work with the county to do the following: 1. Civilianize some positions in our jail to reduce the total number of Correctional O(cid:431)icers needed per Title 15. Right now we have Cos performing administrative duties that can be handled by a civilian such as Central Guard (Control Room). 2. Continue to work to hire for the ten (10) vacancies we have. Right now, four (4) are frozen due to budgetary worries. That leaves us with six (6) open positions which will only give us twenty-five (25) of the recommended forty (40) Correctional O(cid:431)icers (COs). 3. Expand the approved FTEs for the Sheri(cid:431)’s O(cid:431)ice to make it possible to safely operate the two correctional facilities in our county which is a mandate.