MORE MOONBEAM REALIGNMENT FALLOUT

All the problems within California’s state prisons are now becoming problems within county jails

Bob Walsh says, “Jerry [Gov. Moonbeam] fooled a lot of people really good with this realignment idiocy. It will never fix the problem, and was never intended to. All it did was move the problem from Jerry's plate into the counties. Welcome to the new reality, suckers.”

And Jeff ‘Paco’ Doyle says, “Ultimately, so-called petty crime will carry no threat of incarceration. When that happens, shoplifting calls, for example, will burden local police agencies to the breaking point. Many agencies already refuse to send officers to cold burglaries — Victims are instructed to file a report at the public desk or online. What other crimes will fall off law enforcement’s radar as realignment redefines crime and punishment?”

JAILS FACE NEW CHALLENGES AS INMATES EVOLVE UNDER REALIGNMENT
By Rachel Cook

The Bakersfield Californian
June 29, 2012

A new kind of inmate is getting comfortable in Kern County jails: one more savvy, sneaky and sophisticated.

Evidence of it was laid out on a table earlier this month -- weapons cobbled together from nails and plastic wrap by Lerdo Jail minimum security prisoners. The impromptu arms were designed to stick someone rapidly and repeatedly.

Jail staff found the same make-shift weapons before realignment -- the controversial program that last year shifted some offenders from state to county responsibility -- but now they're seeing two or three times as many, said Kern County Sheriff's Department Detentions Sgt. Greg Gonzales.

"It's virtually impossible to find everything that they find," Gonzales said.

Under the statewide prison reform, offenders convicted of non-serious, non-violent and non-sexual crimes were redirected from state to county incarceration and supervision.

Not only are more seasoned inmates landing in county jail but some are hunkering down to spend more time there. They, for example, are preparing for larger scale conflict by stashing away weapons and working out more, adding more push-ups and sit-ups to their routine, Gonzales said.

"Those (jail) beds are now going to be tied up with people that this is going to be their home so they think they might as well set up shop," he said.

MORE SOPHISTICATED INMATES

Drug and prison gang problems are also growing in the jails, Chief Deputy Kevin Zimmermann, who oversees the county's jails, recently said at a June meeting of the committee distributing local realignment money from the state.

Convicts may violate their parole on purpose to come into the jail for a short period of time and sell contraband such as drugs, he said. Outsiders can also bring money to put on inmates' accounts to pay for drugs purchased inside the jail.

"It is organized, it's getting more organized, and the sophistication level of these inmates is just increasing as we stand here," Zimmermann said at the minimum security facility.

Keeping up with the evolving inmate population is a challenge for the staff who also have to take care of the facilities' everyday needs. The issues stemming from the changing jail population are cropping up throughout the county jail facilities, from the Central Receiving Facility to the Lerdo Facilities Complex.

About 46,000 people were booked into the county's jails last year for an average daily inmate population of 2,500 to 2,600, Zimmermann said. Every day, approximately 100 to 120 people are arrested and booked into jail, meaning other inmates must be released to make room for the new ones.

Zimmermann predicted minimum security offenders will become an "extinct species" as lesser ones are sent to alternative programs to make room for medium- and high-security inmates.

Wear-and-tear on facilities is another hurdle to clear as some inmates stay longer, he said.

"Security's always going to be a concern just because of who we're dealing with here, but the maintenance piece of it is just as challenging because of what they're capable of doing," Zimmermann said.

A BIGGER PROBLEM

The challenges of dealing with an evolving jail population aren't exclusive to Kern County.

San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department Commander Aaron Nix said his county's jail is housing "a much more sophisticated criminal" these days as well.

Some of the consequences are the need to isolate more inmates and a rise in assaults on inmates. According to Nix, some inmates assault others so they can serve the rest of their term in state prison, where programs and resources are better.

"There's a learning curve without a doubt. Our custody staff has definitely had to adapt," Nix said.

Nix still thinks his department is a lot better off than when realignment started. It's planning to put a search dog in the jail to sniff out drugs, cell phones and "pruno," or prison wine. The department is also working to get a full body screener in hopes of cutting down on smuggling.

The Kern County Sheriff's Department is also looking into ways to combat the inmates' plots, including deploying full body scanners. On Thursday, Zimmermann had just received a report that estimated the cost of owning one to be $150,000 to $200,000.

The Sheriff's Department could receive $9.9 million of the county's $23.4 million allotment for realignment's next fiscal year, which starts July 1, if a proposed spending plan is approved. Kern County's Community Corrections Partnership executive committee is set to vote on the plan on July 11.

Zimmermann said the sheriff's office has proposed using some of the money to add 15 security detentions deputies and several support positions to the jails to help quell the emerging problems.