Sheriff Curtis Hill said he is getting mixed signals from the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on prison
and jail reform, making local planning more difficult for expansion
to local facilities and programs.
Sheriff Curtis Hill said he is getting mixed signals from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on prison and jail reform, making local planning more difficult for expansion to local facilities and programs.
Last year, the state Legislature approved more than $7 billion to fund re-entry programs in California counties – and prison and jail expansions. The California prison system has not emphasized rehabilitation even with a booming and overcrowded inmate population of more than 170,000 inmates statewide.
A video conference held last week with CDCR officials left the state’s county sheriffs wanting to speak with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger about how the re-entry programs will work at a local level, Hill said.
“We’re dealing with a bunch of knuckle-dragging thugs,” Hill told the San Benito County Board of Supervisors this week.
If confusion continues, Hill said counties may pull out of potential agreements for state funding from the CDCR.
While applications for the grant funds are due soon, Hill said he is using a regional approach to the re-entry program. The sheriff said he is in talks with San Luis Obispo about a re-entry program that would house offenders from San Benito County there. Hill may also reach out to Stanislaus, Tuolome and Merced counties, he said.
Hill said officials told video conference participants that high-risk offenders would now be put in re-entry programs in whatever county the CDCR chooses, and that mental health treatment will not be provided to help parolees transition back into society.
Dr. Alan Yamamoto, who heads the county’s mental health department, told supervisors Tuesday that ongoing treatment is “imperative to success” of parolees suffering from chronic conditions.
If certain parolees stop taking medications, it would be an “exacerbation of all their acute behaviors,” Yamamoto said. Hill believes it would lead to parolees re-offending.
The sheriff said the CDCR has not presented a uniform plan for the re-entry program.
“It’s like walking through a minefield,” Hill said.
The CDCR press office was guarded in its response to Hill’s concerns Wednesday.
Seth Unger, press secretary for the CDCR, said the state would fund mental health treatment when the offender enters the re-entry program 12 months prior to release. That treatment wouldn’t necessarily be cut off, Unger said.
“They’d still be eligible for mental health and treatment programs as parolees,” Unger said of certain offenders.
Unger added that high-risk offenders would benefit more from a re-entry program than many mid- or low-risk inmates.
And Unger said high-risk offenders would be released back into the community from which they came.
“They are, by definition, going to be better prepared to re-enter the community of their last legal residence,” Unger said.
