State prison cuts' effect on county jail feared

<p>After four years of declines in the number of inmates held at the Sonoma County Jail, local authorities fear that an overhaul of the statewide prison system could increase the jail population by hundreds of inmates at an estimated cost of $1 million a year.</p><p>Lawmakers have until Sept. 11, the end of the legislative session, to save close to a billion dollars by decreasing the state's prison population, which is roughly double its intended capacity.</p><p>That has local criminal justice authorities and county leaders concerned that the Sonoma County Jail could fill with parolees who have violated parole and inmates who under today's regulations would be sent to state prison.</p><p>“Increased victimization and a potential increase in the jail population is the big concern that law enforcement officials have,” Sonoma County District Attorney Stephan Passalacqua said.</p><p>“In this day of limited resources, how do we deal with that?”</p><p>California senators already have passed a bill that would reduce the prison population by changing sentencing guidelines for property crimes, moving the threshold for a felony from $400 to $2,500. Those convicted of misdemeanors would be sentenced to county jail instead of state prison. The bill also allows the early release of low-risk inmates to house arrest.</p><p>Assembly members are expected to vote Monday on a less-sweeping bill that raises the property crime threshold to $950, $1,550 lower than the Senate bill. It also does not allow the early release of elderly or infirm convicts to house arrest and provides funding to counties to pay for increased local costs of state reforms.</p><p>Passalacqua, County Supervisor Mike Kerns and Assistant Sheriff Linda Suvoy, who runs the county corrections system, said those changes are more palatable to local law enforcement.</p><p>“If you add inmates locally it's going to be a problem,” said Suvoy, citing staffing issues and costs of reopening units that have been closed.</p><p>“The big question is how to pay for it and is the state really going to divert funding to the local governments to address those issues,” she said.</p><p>Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supports the Senate bill and last week accused Assembly members of not “having the guts to make this decision.”</p><p>“They're more worried about their safe seats than the safe streets,” the governor said, referring to the almost half of Democrats in the Assembly who are up for re-election.</p><p>Sonoma County inmates are housed at two facilities, the main jail at the county offices on Ventura Avenue and the North County Detention Facility near the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport. The maximum total population is 1,460 inmates, and it averages just over 1,000 inmates a day.</p><p>The jail population has declined along with the crime rate.</p><p>If the jail population reaches 85 percent of capacity, a total of 1,241 inmates, local officials have the ability to release offenders five days before the end of their sentence to ensure that enough beds are open.</p><p>According to reports by jail administrators, under the Senate's version of the bill, approximately 120 additional inmates could be sentenced to county jail annually instead of state prison. About 400 prison inmates would be released to Sonoma County on parole. Assuming a recidivism rate of 70 percent, that could put another 280 convicts into the county jail system.</p><p>The cost to open currently closed jail units, overtime for deputies, health care services and other support costs for inmates would be about $1 million a year added to the $53 million-a-year budget, Suvoy said.</p><p>Figures for the Assembly bill, which was revised last week, were not available. But that bill's funding option would channel state prison savings to local jails, where inmate housing costs are cheaper.</p><p>“It's a criminal justice crisis,” Suvoy said. “There's an impact in courts, custody, probation, treatment. There's only so many local dollars.”</p><p>County Supervisor Shirlee Zane said there have not been any formal discussions about the local impacts of prison overhaul measures among county supervisors, but the worry is palpable, as the costs to a community are not just at the jail.</p><p>“These impacts are going to be significant,” she said. “If we have 400 state prisoners coming back into the county, my hunch is well over 50 percent of them are going to need substance-abuse counseling and job assistance, and those services are being cut. Releasing prisoners and cutting services that are going to help them stay out of prison and gainfully employed is absurd.”</p><p>Kerns, though supportive of overhauling the state prison system, said he wished the state would find a way to do it in a way that didn't cost the county.</p><p>“We will be lobbying against this (Senate bill),” he said. “It's going to cost us money we don't have. Basically it will mean we will have to expand existing facilities. It's going to cost us a lot more money and it's going to be much more difficult for us to provide resources.”</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Laura Norton at 521-5220 </p><p>or laura.norton@</p><p>pressdemocrat.com.</p>