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Extracted from Consolidated Report
This investigation was originally published as part of a larger consolidated report containing multiple investigations. View the consolidated PDF for the complete document.
Lake County Grand Jury
• 2020-2021
Public Safety in the Time of Covid Inspection of the Lake County Detention and Holding Facilities 2021
⚠️ 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 9 findings
F1
Page 105
The Clearlake Police Department Holding Facility is not currently in use due to COVID-19 restrictions.
F2
Page 105
The BSCC final report determined that the facility was in compliance with applicable regulations. RECOMMENDATIONS: None. 2. TEHAMA COUNTY JUVENILE HALL: Lake County Probation no longer operates a juvenile hall and, instead, contracts with Tehama County for juvenile detention services. Youths are detained in juvenile hall in Red Bluff pending their Juvenile Court hearings, while they are serving a commitment or while they are awaiting home detention or out-of-home placement in a foster/group home, camp, or other institution. The Tehama County Juvenile Facility houses as many as 60 wards of the Court and has as homelike an environment as possible. The Facility disciplinary system relies on positive behavior management rather than on punishment. Multiple programs for the youths are available. Only parents, legal guardians, and grandparents are allowed to visit, and no children younger than age 18 can visit. Maintaining family ties is encouraged. The youths can make collect phone calls only to home and are entitled to two hours of visitation each week. Both Zoom visits and Zoom court hearings are utilized. The facility has a courtroom on-site. Medical care is available in an adjacent building. The population has been declining, due in part to changes in the approach to juvenile justice. As of mid-April 2021, Lake County had placed only two male detainees there, both age 14. The cost is $150/detainee/day plus all medical costs after the first medical visit. If no detainees are placed there, Lake County is not charged. Since the County contracted with Tehama County on 10/1/17, 85 youths have been incarcerated there. In 2020, an average of 4-6 detainees were placed there. The total cost in 2020 was $61,000, out of the annual department budget for juveniles of $350.000. The overall recidivism rate for youths in 2020 was 1.9%. When the Juvenile Hall in Lake County was last operational, the average number of detainees was in the 12-19 range. When a child is arrested and transported to Probation, the child’s offense, social/criminal history, and an assessment score on the Detention Risk Assessment Instrument all determine whether the child will remain in custody and be transferred to Red Bluff until a court hearing is held. The County occasionally accesses two other juvenile facilities for more violent youths or those in gangs. The duration of the sentence is up to the judge, usually about six months. Customized care plans are created for each youth that involve education, life skills, group meetings for alcohol and other drugs, mental health, anger management, and, whenever possible, child-parent classes. About 90% of the youths have substance use disorders, mostly marijuana. The length of time on probation depends on the needs of the child. The upper age limit is currently 21, although that may be raised to 26. The most current BSCC report from February 2020, stated that, overall, they found the facility to be operated in a safe and secure manner for the detention of youth. They noted the positive effects of the efforts made by staff and supervisors working directly with the youth under their care and observed that a great deal of time was spent directly engaged with the youth throughout their stay, extra counseling efforts were made to deescalate in times of crisis, and particular efforts were made to communicate facility expectations. The BSCC also found that the policy manual needed to be updated, and documentation of events in incident reports, forms, and logs lacked consistency. All juvenile traffic tickets are sent by the CHP to Probation. From Traffic Court, the youths are usually sentenced to community service. With additional training, Probation Officers can act as School Resource Officers. Currently, only the Upper Lake Unified School District contracts with Probation to have an officer on-campus. FINDINGS:
F3
Page 106
If there are no detainees, there is no cost to Lake County.
F4
Page 106
The current Probation Department budget for Juveniles is $350,000.00.
F5
Page 106
The BSCC complimented the staff for the amount of one-on-one time effectively spent with the youths. 106
F6
Page 107
The Lake County Probation Department can provide School Resource Officers to the school districts who can coordinate with staff and can identify and counsel problem students before they enter juvenile detention. RECOMMENDATIONS:
F7
Page 115
Additional mental-health support from Behavioral Health is desirable.
F8
Page 115
More funding needs to be committed to the community-supervision alternatives-to-jail programs.
F9
Page 115
Critical staffing issues continue to exist in several departments of the Sheriff’s Office, including among both correctional officers and aides at the Jail, and such short-handedness impacts morale and retention and increases overtime and retraining costs. RECOMMENDATIONS:
Recommendations 3
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R1Page 107Due to its exceptional facility and programs, the County should continue to contract with Tehama County for detaining troubled youths. (F-5)
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R2Page 107Using Probation officers as school resource officers should be encouraged by the County’s school districts. (F-6) REQUESTED RESPONSES: Pursuant to Penal Code section 933(c), the following responses are required: Board of Supervisors – R-1 – 90 days Probation Department – R-1, R-2 – 60 days Lake County Superintendent of Schools – R-2 – 60 days 3. LAKE COUNTY COURTHOUSE HOLDING FACILITY: This facility has “aged out” of the BSCC system and is on permanent waiver. As a part of the courthouse, the holding facility falls under state jurisdiction and is only maintained by the County. The facility is very basic and has had no improvements for many years and is rarely used. Inmates are usually taken directly to the courtroom for appearances and are rarely placed in the holding cells. CONCLUSION: There were no reportable findings. 4. KONOCTI CONSERVATION CAMP #27: The facility is jointly operated by the State Departments of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CalFire) and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). Its primary mission is to provide inmate fire suppression crews wherever needed in California. There are 35 minimum-security camps, statewide, in 25 counties, of which two are for women. Inmates volunteer to be assigned to a camp, and only those with fewer than five years left on their sentences and no history of arson, rape, or other sex crimes are eligible. Rehabilitation is continuously emphasized, beginning with simple discipline, such as getting up at 6 a.m., to help 107 them “make it in the world.” The formal disciplinary procedures progress from verbal warnings to written warnings to, at the extreme, being returned to prison. The Camp has a capacity of 100 inmates and currently houses 33 inmates, with some on fire crews and the rest in support roles (kitchen, vehicle maintenance, water treatment, office). In order to build cohesion, each fire crew has 12-16 members that train together, work together, sleep in the same pod, eat together, and relax together 24/7. All of the training is for wildland, not structure, fires. If an inmate passes an initial one week of physical education, he is then sent for two weeks of firefighting training. The inmates also prepare food in the field using mobile trailers. The inmates are paid $2.45/day, with an extra $1/hour when actually fighting a fire. Their sentences may be reduced because of their participation in this program. During the recent years of wildland fires, the inmates spent nearly eight thousand man-hours fighting fires throughout the State. CalFire has changed its policies to permit hiring qualified inmates after release. The US Forest Service and private fire agencies also can hire inmates, but municipal fire departments cannot. CC#27 also provides equipment maintenance and repair for all manner of fire service equipment. This unit can also operate as a mobile unit that travels to make repairs on-site. CC#27 also participates in conservation, fuel-reduction, and community-service programs in Lake, Napa, Sonoma, Yolo, Colusa, and Mendocino counties. The BSCC does not inspect this facility. FINDINGS:
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R3Page 115The County should negotiate a higher hourly rate for correctional officers and aides in accordance with the Class & Comp survey findings and supplement their health-care benefit costs on a par with the patrol officers. (F-5, F-8) 115 REQUEST FOR RESPONSES Pursuant to Penal Code section 933(c), the following responses are required: Board of Supervisors R-1, R-2, R-3 90 days Lake County Sheriff R-1, R-2, R-3 60 days The following response is invited: Behavioral Health (via BOS) R-2 90 days 116 117 118