Marin County Sheriff's Office ERK*

The Marin County Jail is dated and is held to standards in place in 1988 but does not meet modern day standards for a county jail. EMERGENCY SERVICES 473-6584 I disagree with this finding. The Marin County Jail opened in 1994 and is only 30 years old. A 2013 study conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California, found that 89 of INVESTIGATIONS California's County Jails were constructed before the 1990's. When compared to other 473-7265 County Jails operating in the State, our Jail cannot be considered "dated". JAIL The Marin County Jail has passed Title 15 and Title 24 State inspections every year of 473-6655 its existence. These inspections have been carried out by the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC), the highest regulatory authority of County Jails in the State of California. Only a very small fraction of our Jail is held to a 1988 standard which UNIT is common practice in Jails throughout the State. 884-4878 BSCC updates their inspection standards regularly and our facility continues to meet those standards. In addition to passing State certification, in the past five years, the PATROL County has committed approximately 8 million dollars in infrastructure upgrades over 9 473-7233 Capital Improvement Projects at the Jail. Our facility is cared for and well maintained. RECORDS 473-7284

The complex inmate classification system and the increase in the AB 109 population WARRANTS have significantly reduced the available programming space at the Marin County Jail 473-7297 "In Partnership with our Communities" www.marinsheriff.org because of the inability to mix various inmate classification groups both in and out of cells. I disagree with this finding. Although AB109 has impacted the complexity of our Jail Classification System, our Jail design layout still provides adequate space to deliver quality, comprehensive programming in a variety of areas. The complexities created by AB109, in some ways, have been offset by a decrease in our Average Daily Population (ADP). In 2018, our ADP was 320 incarcerated persons. Currently our ADP is averaging around 220 where it has remained for at least the past 6 months. Our Classification Deputies have come up with effective and innovative ways to safely offer programs to all incarcerated persons across all classifications within the confines of our current facility.

The Marin County Jail lacks the medical and mental health facilities needed to adequately address the significantly greater incidence of mental health and substance abuse conditions of the current inmate population. I disagree with this finding. The Marin County Sheriff's Office asserts that our services provided by Behavioral Health & Recovery Services (BHRS) meet and exceed industry standards for mental health care. Our collaboration with BHRS has been instrumental in proactively implementing improvements. We are certified annually by the BSCC and consistently strive to have our service reflect these enhancements. In 2023, we made significant proactive improvements by updating the safety cell log sheets to align with recent changes to Title 15. This revision allowed us to rework the entire form, adding clarity, especially regarding safety cell placements related to increased risk of self-harm. The result is that safety cell placements are more comprehensively monitored. More recently in 2024, MCSO approved a BHRS initiative to transform the Special Housing unit into a "therapeutic milieu", which is an environment suitable for individuals and groups to access mental health care. This systemic change will enhance our ability to provide direct services to our mental health populations and eliminate existing barriers to mental health care. None of these achievements would have been possible without the collaborative trust in BHRS to continually drive positive changes. In summary, our services are not only adequate and aligned with industry standards but are also continually evolving and improving.

The current inmate population requires additional programming space that is not available due to the physical limitations of the Marin County Jail. I disagree with this finding. Our Average Daily Population has been trending down for the past 5 years. All housing units inside the Marin County Jail, except for one, have multipurpose rooms equipped with multi-media connectivity, and provide adequate space to congregate for meetings. Our entire incarcerated population can access tablets inside their respective housing units. These tablets provide additional access to personal and legal visits and provide educational and vocational applications for incarcerated persons to use while in custody. No additional space is required to access all the resources and programs our tablets have to offer. We are in the process of obtaining more tablets for our incarcerated population and have a goal to increase our I/P to tablet ratio to 1:1. In April of this year, the Sheriff's Office implemented our Jail Re-Unification Program. This program is designed to facilitate meaningful connections between incarcerated individuals and their families, recognizing the invaluable role of familial relationships in fostering positive behavior and reducing recidivism rates. An ideal space was carved out on the visitation level to carry out these special visits. The room was furnished by a local non-profit company and provides a clean and comfortable location to begin the incarcerated person's journey back to family life.

The Marin County Jail's subterranean location precludes its expansion to build additional programming space and mental health and medical facilities. I disagree with this finding. Without a proper study, it is unknown what the expansion potential of our current facility is. Additionally, the factors previously laid out in this response question the necessity of additional space in our current facility.