cdcr

SB 118 revises compassionate release

November 30, 2020 by Kenneth R. Brydon

Gov. Gavin Newsome has signed a bill increasing the chance for elderly and ill prisoners to obtain a compassionate release.

The measure, SB 118, provides those incarcerated who have been diagnosed with a condition which is determined to either result in death or incapacitation to the point of an inability to perform the activities of basic daily living, may be released under Compassionate Release to live out the remainder of their lives in the community.

Medical stethoscope with red paper heart on white surface — Photo by Karolina Grabowska

The new law amends Penal Code Section 1170. It says the time an individual may have remaining to live has been extended from six months to one year. This bill also changes the process and streamlines release by removing the necessity of approval by the Board of Prison Terms. These modifications are effective Jan. 1, 2022.

Much of the language of Section 1170 remains the same as before. The process begins with the primary care doctor notifying the chief medical officer of those in an incapacitated state. The requirement includes coma, persistent vegetative state, brain death, ventilator-dependency, loss of control of muscular or neurological function, or other incapacitating conditions that did not exist at the time of the original sentencing, and for those diagnosed with a life-ending condition within one year.

If the chief medical officer agrees, this information is handed to the warden’s office. Within 48 hours, the prisoner shall be notified of the recall and resentencing procedures, and arrangements can be made with a designated family member or another outside agent to be notified as to the prisoner’s medical condition and prognosis.

This then goes to the secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. If it is determined that the prisoner satisfies the criteria, the secretary may recommend to the court that the prisoner’s sentence be recalled, and submit a recommendation for release within 30 days.

The warden’s office shall provide the prisoner and their family member, agent, or emergency contact, updated information throughout the recall and resentencing process about the prisoner’s medical condition and the status of the prisoner’s recall and resentencing proceedings.

Also, the prisoner or a family member or designee may independently request consideration for recall and resentencing by contacting the chief medical officer at the prison or the secretary.

Wherever possible, the same judge from the county of commitment, who conducted the sentencing, shall have the case. If the court grants the re-sentencing, the prisoner shall be released within 48 hours. The exceptions remain that the condemned and those who are serving life without possibility of parole do not qualify.

Kathleen Allison the new Secretary of CDCR

November 30, 2020 by CDCR

CDCR Press Release

Kathleen Allison was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom as Secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) on October 1, 2020.

In her over 30 years at CDCR, she has held several leadership roles, including most recently Proposition 17 frees the vote for the formerly incarceratedUndersecretary of Operations.

Before that, she was Director of the Division of Adult Institutions (DAI) from 2016 to 2018; Deputy Director of Facility Support from 2012 to 2016; and Associate Director for the Female Offender Programs and Services from 2011 to 2012.

Ms. Allison also served in several positions at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in Corcoran from 2002 to 2011, including Warden; Chief Deputy Administrator; Correctional Administrator; and Correctional Health Services Administrator II.

She also held several positions at Avenal State Prison from 1987 to 2002, including Community Resources Manager and Senior Medical Technical Assistant. Ms. Allison began her career as a Medical Technical Assistant at Avenal State Prison in 1987. She is a licensed Registered Nurse.

Ms. Allison has experienced nearly all aspects of corrections in her tenure at CDCR, from health care and custody operations to fiscal administration, rehabilitative programs, mental health services, and community relationships. Most recently as Undersecretary, she has been critical in the response of CDCR to the COVID-19 pandemic in some of the state’s 35 prisons. Those efforts have included the suspension of intake, visiting and volunteering, the expedited release of eligible inmates, the reduction of the prison population to its lowest level in 30 years, and the response to the outbreak in San Quentin State Prison.

Additionally, Ms. Allison has overseen the evolution of the Department over the past three decades, including the implementation of various criminal justice reforms, such as the voter-approved initiatives Proposition 36, Proposition 47, and Proposition 57. She has also successfully led the development of policies and programs that focus on rehabilitation, restorative justice, and successful reentry, which have made prisons safer for staff and incarcerated people, and has strengthened partnerships with both governmental agencies and community organizations to create a system focused on public safety, personal accountability, and positive change.

Gov. Newsom signs prison reform bills into law

November 30, 2020 by Marcus Henderson

Gov. Newsom at San Quentin with Richard Richardson and Officer E. Sanford

California prison reform got a boost as Gov. Gavin Newsom signed various legislative bills into law. But some of the incarcerated remain skeptical about whether there will be any real changes.

Parole for the elderly, prison closures and transgender correctional housing requests are among the changes that the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation (CDCR) will see in the new year.

The Elderly Parole Program was formerly reserved for those who were 60 years old and had served 25 years. With AB 3234 signed into law, parole consideration is now for those 50 years old and who have served 20 years. For those eligible, a parole hearing will be held by December 31, 2022.

“This should be beneficial, but in reality, we had a lot of bills. We had 60-25 and how many went home off that?” said Anthony “Habib” Watkins, 61, who has served 22 years. He is eligible for an early parole hearing. “I still have high hopes that this reform may make a difference. At least we will have a chance to demonstrate our cognitive behavior to the parole board and do our part in restorative justice,” he added.

Under the law, the board will give special consideration to whether age, time served and diminished physical capacity, if any, have reduced an elderly prisoner’s risk for future violence. This law does not alter the rights of the victims at the parole board hearing. Those who are on Death Row, serving life without the possibility of parole or are convicted of first-degree murder of a peace officer are not eligible.

Prison closures are now a reality, after decades of prison overcrowding. Initially, CDCR had to identify two facilities to close by Jan 10, 2021. Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI), also known as Tracy, is slated to be closed by September 30, 2021. The other prison has yet to be named but must be chosen by January 10, 2022. Before the choice is made, CDCR will consider the relatively high operational cost or infrastructure needs compared to prisoner capacity, flexible housing assignment capacity, and long-term operational costs, etc. according to the Legislative Counsel’s Digest and the October 2020 Legislative Update from the Legal Service for Prisoners with Children Newsletter.

“If the state is going to confine us the conditions should be liveable,” said Robert Ebertowski, an SQ resident. “I was at Tracy and the water there was not even drinkable. But the closures are a step in the right direction because as American citizens and human beings, our rights didn’t stop when we came to prison.”

The Transgender Respect, Agency and Dignity Act was also signed. Transgender, nonbinary (those who neither identity exclusively male or female) or intersex may be housed in men’s or women’s facilities (including residential programs) based on the individual’s preference. The CDCR will privately ask for gender identity (female, male or nonbinary) or whether the person identifies as transgender, nonbinary or intersex during initial intake. An individual may decline to answer and may not be disciplined for refusing to answer. They will be called by their preferred gender pronoun or surname. And at any time the person may inform staff of their gender identity and staff will start the process over.

“I really hope it helps staff to respect us more,” said Cassandra Evans, SQ resident. “We still face discrimination from some C/Os (Correctional Officers) telling us things like ‘man up’ or not calling us by our correct pronouns. It’s not like we are going to tell on them all the time—which we should. But retaliation is real, even when the law says they can’t.”
Evans thanked State Sen. Scott Wiener (D), the author of the bill, and his staff for coming to San Quentin and talking with them during their Trans-Remembrance Day event. She also reflected on what the housing choice may bring.

“I think it will be about comfort. Most of us have been in men’s prisons for so long that you don’t know how others will accept you at the other prisons,” said Evans. “It’s good that we have the choice. Now, it will be about how things transition. We just have to wait and see how people will adjust.”
Other noticeable changes that will take effect are: formerly incarcerated firefighters are now eligible to have their record expunged, making a path for them to become firefighters and EMTs; some convictions are excluded.
Pregnant incarcerated people can have a support person present during childbirth. Officers are prohibited from using tasers, pepper spray and other chemical weapons on pregnant prisoners. Women also will be offered pregnancy tests and prenatal care and services, both in jails and prisons.

The California Racial Justice Act is another major change. It prohibits the state from seeking or obtaining a conviction or sentence based on race, ethnicity or national origin, which must be shown by the evidence. Also, California’s jury pools have been expanded to include everyone who files income tax returns and not just those who registered to vote or have a driver’s license.

Not all bills were signed. Gov. Newsom vetoed the Prisons: Confidential Informants bill (AB 1064), which would have prohibited a CDCR employee or a private entity under contract with the CDCR from finding an incarcerated person guilty of a rule violation if the decision is based on information from an in-custody confidential informant that is not corroborated or reliable. It would have also prohibited the parole board from using such uncorroborated allegations to deny parole.

“I’m mortified,” said an SQ resident who wanted to remain anonymous. “Without the signing of AB 1064, my due process rights as an incarcerated person will be blocked. Any statement by another person or C/O claimed in uncorroborated facts or false accusations can go unchallenged no matter what the motive is. It can be used to keep us in the SHU (Security Housing Unit) or get us a for-sure denial at the [parole] board. So you may have to plead guilty to an untruth just to get out of the SHU or get a parole date, which is not right,” the person added. The bill has to go back to the full Assembly for a vote.

The Youth Offender Parole Credit-earning Law (AB 965) has been placed on hold. Due to COVID-19, CDCR officials have yet to release the regulations for AB 965’s implementation, according to the Initiate Justice Newsletter for September 2020.

“This is a huge disappointment being that this is a critical aspect in helping eligible folks be heard for parole suitability sooner rather than later,” reported the Newsletter.

The CDCR also has not released the regulations for the Expansion of Good Conduct Credits. The credits will not apply retroactively, according to the Newsletter.

As for the bills that did not succeed or had to be dropped, some prison reform advocates said they are gearing up for the next legislative cycle in 2021.

Survivor describes his struggles battling COVID-19

September 30, 2020 by Alfred King

The Covid-19 outbreak at San Quentin has caused the death of 26 prisoners and one guard. Ron Lee Joffrion, 55, is a survivor of the outbreak.

He has been locked up at San Quentin for the last 14 years, working for the Prison Industry Authority’s (PIA) mattress factory and assigned to a cell in North Block. He contracted the virus during a period of quarantine at the prison.

“I’m lucky to be alive, and I continue to thank God I made it this far, but I also realize that I’m still in danger,” Joffrion said in an interview. Joffrion is one of the 3,000 prisoners currently housed here at San Quentin who are not able to social distance themselves, and who face unclean living conditions and poor healthcare delivery.

He contracted Covid-19 after the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation imported 121 men from a Southern California prison with a serious virus outbreak. San Quentin had been virus-free and the men were quarantined with no infections; within a short time, thousands of men and numerous guards had it.

Joffrion’s first symptoms were the loss of taste and smell, followed by extreme headaches, and he could not lay on his back. Within hours he could hardly breathe, so it was time for him to go “Man Down”—the prison term for when you have to call for help.

When the officers got to his cell, along with a nurse, he had a temperature of 101. They took him out to Badger section, part of the prison reserved for people who were showing symptoms. He stayed there for the next five days as his condition kept getting worse.

With no improvement, an ambulance transported him to Seton Hospital in Daly City, where he was placed in a special Intensive Care Unit for people from San Quentin. There he saw a lot of guys he knew from the prison.

He was not allowed to notify his family that he was sick and near death. For weeks he drifted in and out of consciousness, praying that he would get better and see his family again—his wife and two daughters.

After 30 days on oxygen in the ICU, he was returned to San Quentin, but instead of going back to his housing unit, he was placed in some sort of medical unit recently constructed in the PIA complex. He stayed there for the next 18 days, then was told that he was no longer infected, though he still suffered from a variety of symptoms.

Dr. Coleen Kivlahan, head of primary care at the University of California San Francisco, sees up to 20 patients like Joffrion, whom she refers to as “long-haul patients.”

She estimates that there are tens of thousands of so-called “long-haul patients” who continue to experience fatigue, chest pains, cognitive issues, and that much remains unknown about the virus, according to a Wall Street Journal article.

Joffrion still complains about his loss of memory and shortness of breath, and can hardly stand on his own. He is weak and frail after losing 30 pounds and cannot stand for longer than a couple of minutes.

As harsh as the virus was on him, he is glad to have survived, thinking back to some of the guys he saw at Seton Hospital who did not come back.

He realizes that he is not out of the woods yet. The virus is still here, and he can see it around him, that proper measures are still not in place to protect people in North Block. There is no consensus on how long he will be immune from catching the virus again, but some data suggests he will be immune for three weeks, while other data says he will be fine up to three months.

CDCR and how they’re handing the global pandemic

September 30, 2020 by Rahsaan Thomas

California prison officials are doing everything they can to protect incarcerated people from Coronavirus outbreaks, except release half the population.

“What we are not going to do is make a bad situation worse,” said Ralph Diaz, Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) at a recent hearing. He cited homelessness as just one example. “Also, before I would do that, I would be looking at the empty housing units that do exist within CDCR and maximized zones to reduce density at institutions.”

Diaz as well as Clark Kelso, the federal receiver over CDCR health care for incarcerated people, spoke at the California Senate Public Safety Committee Meeting July 7.

The meeting, chaired by State Senator Nancy Skinner, was initiated to review the Corona virus outbreak caused when officials transferred infected men from one prison to two others. The purpose of the hearing was to review CDCR’s plans to prevent further spread.

Senate committee members, activists, healthcare experts, and state assembly members Marc Levine and Ash Kalra lined up to have their say and get their questions answered.

Levine called for accountability; Senator Scott Wiener said that if the state wants to control the virus, it will have to reduce the prison population
Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson was so concerned about the situation, she questioned whether CDCR saw incarcerated people as human.
In his opening remarks Diaz outlined the efforts CDCR has taken to prevent Coronavirus outbreaks (see sidebar) and he responded to Senator Jackson’s remark about whether CDCR viewed incarcerated people as human: “…that’s the farthest from the truth. We care about inmates, we care about staff.”

By May of this year, there were hundreds of positive COVID-19 cases at the California Institution for Men at Chino, a prison in Southern California.

In order to protect medically vulnerable people housed at Chino, the CDCR transferred some of the men to San Quentin and some to Corcoran State Prison. Several of the transferees had COVID-19.

At the hearing, federal receiver Kelso explained the decision to move men out of CIM. “On May 23, we decided that the expanding cases at CIM posed an unacceptable risk to the last remaining dorm where hundreds of COVID-19 high-risk patients were housed.”

Although each person was tested before transfer, Kelso said the results were far too old to be reliable indicators for the absence of COVID. “In some cases,” he said, “the results were four weeks old.”

“As it turned out, two of 66 patients moved to Corcoran tested positive when they were retested at Corcoran,” Kelso said. At San Quentin, he said that out of the 122 transferred from Chino, 25 tested positive at San Quentin.
Cases ballooned at both prisons. By the date of the hearing, Corcoran had jumped to 125 active cases and San Quentin had increased to 1,106.
There were no confirmed Coronavirus cases at San Quentin until after the group from Chino arrived.

Moreover, in order to reduce the dorm populations from 200 to 100 people at San Quentin, the cell blocks were filled with two men in almost every 6×9 foot cell.

According to Kelso, doctors from UC Berkeley and UCSF toured San Quentin on June 12. They noted that the cell blocks’ poor ventilation could cause the “virus to spread very rapidly,” just like the dorms.

Dr. David Sears, a physician and professor of medicine at the University of California who was on that tour,

CDCR Struggles to Stop The Flow of Contraband

May 10, 2020 by Kevin Sawyer

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) continues to struggle in its effort to stop the introduction of contraband inside its 35 prisons.

In a recently released Notice of Change to Regulations (NCR 20-01), the Department’s Regulation and Policy Management Branch stated, “Current strategies have been effective overall,” but CDCR still expects that it will expand its search methods.

“ION scanners and low-dose, full-body x-ray scanners as supplemental inmate search options will increase the Department’s ability to discover illegal drugs and contraband that are being introduced into and throughout the institutions,” the NCR’s Initial Statement of Reasons stated.

The CDCR is proposing to amend the California Code of Regulations, Title 15, Section 3287, which governs inspection of property and inmate body searches. It will include ION scanners as search options, according to the NCR.

The NCR stated that the existence and use of contraband inside the state prison system causes death, damages rehabilitation efforts, and facilitates criminal activity within the institutions and the community.

“Without the use of the many layers of interdiction devices and strategies available, inmates will continue to die from drug overdoses,” the NCR said, adding, “Staff and visitors will continue to be compromised by being pressured by inmates to smuggle illegal drugs and contraband into the institutions.”

To underscore its point about contraband, deaths and prosecutions for these crimes, the CDCR released some of its most recent numbers on its findings below:

Type of Contraband Discovered 2017 2018

Cellular Telephones 13,195 phones 11,715 Phs

Heroin 28.83 pounds 30. 8 pounds

Marijuana 91.77 pounds 131.9 pounds

Methamphetamines 43.55 pounds 44.22 pounds

Tobacco 635.8 pounds 527.9 pounds

Data obtained from CDCR’s Office of Research.

Year Overdoses Resulting In Death

2016 28

2017 39

2018 61

Total 128

Data obtained from California Correctional Health Care Services, Medical Services Division.

Number of People Prosecuted for Attempting to Introduce Drugs, Alcohol, or Contraband

Fiscal Year Staff Visitors Non-Visitors Totals

2014-15 6 211 51 268

2015-16 7 224 51 282

2016-17 9 221 32 262

2017-18 4 269 57 330

Totals 26 925 191 1142

Data obtained from CDCR’s Office of Research.

The importing, trafficking and use of illegal drugs and contraband pose many problems in an institution setting, including an increase in inmate violence, power struggles within the inmate population, the establishment of an underground economy, staff corruption, and inmate death due to overdose.

What role does society play in the development of felons?

March 16, 2020 by Marcus Henderson

Entrance to Pasrchman State Penitentiary in Mississippi

Be it California or Mississippi, when news of suicides, murders or riots reaches any prison population the feeling is always the same: “damn”—if it’s spoken or not. Especially if you’ve been through it or witnessed these things.

Society might think “there goes those violent monsters acting up again.” What is rarely discussed is that we are a product of the society. Most of us incarcerated and are Americans, and America is filled with double standards (we’ll get to that later) and most of the time breeds intolerance.

Black people and others are still suffering under racism, and we don’t have to go back to slavery to see this. Black people can’t BBQ, sell water or lose cigarettes without the police being called. A Black man was even arrested for eating a sandwich at a San Francisco BART transit station platform. We can’t even sit in our own homes without being shot and killed.

Have we ever talked about collective trauma? It’s not just individuals who suffer. It’s whole communities. Our immigrant community is being detained, and kids are/have been separated from their parents—OK, more trauma. Our President even ordered the assassination of a Iranian general using violence in the name of stopping violence.

Have we been raised to be intolerant against any and everyone who is not like us (on both sides)? Has violence been shown as a way to solve our problems? Is this learned behavior?

We witnessed our President say that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in broad daylight and not get charged. Damn! That’s a criminal threat, or what we incarcerated call a “terrorist threat,” and people in here are doing three to five years, if not a life sentence, for a statement such as that.

During President Trump’s House impeachment trial started by the Democrats—more separation—Trump was alleged to have attempted to strong arm, bribe or leverage—or whatever a good word choice would be (quid pro quo)—to get the Ukrainian president to investigate his rival, excuse me, his possible political opponent, for his own advantage.

Once again, there are hundreds of thousands of people serving long sentences for attempting to do a crime. But what really was most interesting to those incarcerated was how the Republicans, Trump’s “homies” (supporters), kept touting that all the evidence against him was just hearsay. Wait, wait, wait—how many people are sitting in U.S. prisons and jails convicted on hearsay evidence? And I haven’t yet mentioned the venomous call to reveal the name of the whistleblower. Trump’s supporters came just short of calling the confidential informant a “snitch.”

When the smoke cleared Trump was impeached in the House (by his rivals) on “Abuse of Power” and “Obstruction of Justice.”

But, he was acquitted by the majority Republican Senate. Imagine that! a jury of one’s peers. I think most people incarcerated would have loved to have their friends, supporters or homies on their juries. It wouldn’t be hard to guess the outcome.

Now let’s talk about prison violence and reform. When people are sentenced to 800 plus years, what is expected? They have officially written their lives off and wonder what they have to live for or if they will ever see the streets again. Add to that, they are incarcerated in harsh and questionable conditions.

Facebook and CDCR join to stop criminal activity

March 12, 2020 by Harry C. Goodall Jr.

Facebook has policies in place to thwart inmates who use their system to harass, threaten or make unwanted sexual advances.

“Access to social media allows inmates to circumvent our monitoring process and continue to engage in criminal activity,” said former Secretary of Corrections Matthew Cate. “This new cooperation between law enforcement and Facebook will help protect the community and potentially avoid future victims.”

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), said that previously it was made aware that a convicted child molester had sent mail to his 17-year-old victim. This mail included current sketches of the girl although the offender had been in prison for seven years, according to an article by CNET News.

“Details of the victim, such as how she wore her hair and the brand of clothes she wore were accurate,” said CDCR.

CDCR’s investigation found that the inmate had a cell phone that he had used view the girl on Myspace and Facebook web pages. The offender then used this access to draw his pictures

As a result of this crime, Facebook’s security team is working with CDCR to prevent inmates from using their “user accounts” to threaten or harrass.

An inmate can have or

possess an account that was created prior to their incarceration. However, Facebook user policy prohibits users from sharing their password so that others can create posts on that account.

“If a state has decided that prisoners have forfeited their right to use the Internet, the most effective way to prevent access is to ensure prisons have the resources to keep smart phones and other devices out,” said Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes. “We will disable accounts reported to us that are violating relevant U.S. laws or regulations or inmate accounts that are updated by someone on the outside. We will also take appropriate actions against anyone who misuses Facebook to threaten or harass.”

California has made major changes to comply with court orders

February 13, 2020 by Alfred King

California has made major changes to comply with court orders to reduce overcrowd- ing and improve medical care in the 35 state prisons, an update report says.

Changes in rules and regulations have resulted in the state’s prison population measured at 134.8% of design capacity as of Nov. 13, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation reported.

This is the 68th report since a judge ordered the prison reduction to 137.5% of design capacity.

CDCR reported it has been in full compliance with the reduction order for four years, according to the report issued Dec. 16.

Changes include:

1. In the wake of Proposition 57, passed by voters in November 2016, expanded credit earning opportunities were adopted for incarcerated persons.

2. Credit earning opportunities were expanded for prisoners who achieve a high school diploma or its equivalent and /or who complete 52 hours of programming under the Rehabilitative Achievement Credit program. It went into effect on Jan. 9.

3. The office of Administrative Law approved emergency regulations for the non-violent offender parole process to distinguish between determinately sentenced offenders and implement a parole consideration process for indeterminately sentenced, non-violent of- fenders. It became policy on Jan. 1, 2019.

4. A court decision on July 9, changed CDCR policy so that the previously mandated public safety screening pro- cess to be eligible, no longer applies. All are eligible both determinately and indeterminately sentenced. Both groups will be referred to the Board of Parole Hearings for considerations, regardless of their in-prison behavior.

5. CDCR continues to implement other measures to maintain compliance, contracting for additional in-state capacity in county jails, community correctional facilities, private prisons and eliminate of out-of-state beds.

6. A parole process was adopted for medically incapacitated persons, and an elderly parole program for prisoners age 60 or older, who have served at least 25 years of incarceration.

7. Contracts are in place with the counties of San Di- ego, Los Angeles, Butte and Kern to place eligible incarcerated persons in re-entry programs.

8. California has expanded alternative custody programs for females that provide prisoners with a wide range of rehabilitative services to assist with alcohol and drug recovery, employment and social support, education and family re-unification.

Custody to Community Transitional Reentry Pro- grams (CCTRP) are housed at facilities located in San Diego, Santa Fe Springs, Bakersfield, Stockton and Sacramento, noted the report.

As of Nov. 13, 340 female prisoners are participating in the CCTRP programs. The 2019-2020 budget allocates $7.5 million for reentry facilities and will fund two new facilities in Los Angeles for 60 females prisoners.

Gavin Newsom will introduce a broader criminal justice reform

February 13, 2020 by Harry C. Goodall Jr.

Gov. Gavin Newsom will introduce a broader criminal justice reform package as part of his 2020 prison budget plan.

His plans include step down facilities that focus on rehabilitation and reentry options for people being released from custody. He ultimately wants to shut down one of the state’s 35 prisons, according to an article in the Sacramento Bee.

Governor Newsom’s plans are to give the state more power to oversee local sheriffs and lock up facilities. This is possibly due to California’s surge in homicides in some of its largest jails. He has sighted that inmates are held in inhumane suicide watch conditions monitored by lo- cal sheriffs, who rebuff state inspectors, according to the article.

“I’m generally not satisfied with oversight, period. Across the board,” Newsom said on the state’s supervision of the 70,000 inmates housed in county jails. “There’s not a lot of accountability and over- sight in terms of these issues and county jails.”

Governor Newsom’s ad- ministration is studying what changes could be made, but offered no specifics as to what changes will be made as of yet. Governor Newsom’s spokes- person said the governor will announce what changes will be made in January when he reveals his state budget.

There was a yearlong investigation by McClatchy and ProPublica, which exposed that county jails have struggled with the influx of inmates serving longer sentences after the 2011 series of reforms that included a measure that shifted inmates from the state prison system to serving their sentences in local county jails. This was due to the state declaring that California prisons are unconstitutionally over-crowded, according to the article.

“I’m generally not satisfied with oversight, period. Across the board,”

California lawmakers created the California Board of State and Community Corrections to oversee the burden of realignment. Their role was to increase funding for facility construction. The news agencies found the committee “toothless,” according to the article. Some of the reasoning was that the committee did not monitor jail deaths.

“State corrections officials do not have the authority to make county leaders change, and they generally see them- selves as partners, not regulators,” said Allison Ganter, deputy director overseeing the inspection team,

When the homicide rate soared in these facilities, the committee could not force counties to construct new or safer facilities. This was even after billions of dollars had been awarded in state financing to replace decrepit facilities.

Fresno County jail has experienced 47 deaths since the realignment program was instituted. This is twice the number of people who had died in the several years prior to realignment.

A bill has been introduced by Assembly member Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento. This bill would allow counties to create oversight groups with the power to subpoena county sheriffs but was shelved after opposition from local law enforcement. McCarty has vowed to re-submit another version of the bill next year.

The state corrections board cited Kern County’s jail due to suicidal inmates being locked in closet-sized rooms with nothing but a grate in the floor. These inmates were given a rip resistant yoga mat to sleep on. After incidents the jail switched to giving the suicide watch inmates blankets, according to the Sacramento Bee article.

McCarty said this is yet another example of mental health abuses, negligence and lack of proper oversight by a county sheriff’s department.

“This type of lax oversight results in lawsuits and settlements where taxpayers continue to foot the bill and pay for the misconduct of our sheriff’s departments across California.”