State's inmate shift means new approaches to probation system in Sonoma County

On Wednesday afternoon, people filled most seats at a row of computers in the center's lab. The men and one woman were taking job skills training courses, answering questions for a behavior course and doing other work.

Several convicted felons said the Probation Department is far more hands-on than state parole agents.

Matthew Norton, 29, of Cotati, said he's spent a cumulative 13 years in prison for carjacking, passing fraudulent checks, assault with a deadly weapon and other crimes he says he's now working hard to leave behind.

It's not been an easy ride since he was released.

Norton has faltered twice during his stint with probation, including one time when he fell back into alcohol use and another time when he stopped attending classes after suffering a heart attack.

"At first I was like, 'hell no,' but it changed my life," Norton said. "I have friendships with my family now."

He's working several construction industry jobs, bought a home, has a girlfriend and two dogs and attributes part of his current focus to a newfound desire to stay out of prison and the intense level of scrutiny of his probation officer and caseworker.

Norton reports to the center three days each week and calls in two days each week.

In contrast, when he was on state parole, "the law only had to see me one day a month. That gave me 29 days to do what I wanted," Norton said.

The center, which has seen nearly 500 people since it opened, now handles about 160 active clients.

"This is an intense business. We're not going to fix everybody. You have to celebrate the successes," Ochs said.

About 28 percent of people released from prison and put under Sonoma County probation supervision between October 2011 and Aug. 31, 2013, have been arrested on suspicion of new crimes, according to Probation Department Statistics.

Realignment has resulted in greater leeway for Superior Court judges and probation officers to deal with parole violators, who once would have been sent back to prison but are now handled locally.

The courts also have greater discretion to offer detention alternatives for people arrested for misdemeanor crimes and individuals awaiting trial.

The Sonoma County Probation Department's 99 officers oversee about 3,000 clients, including 381 people who would have been under state supervision before realignment.

In contrast, there 472 active state parolees in Sonoma County who remain under state supervision.

Sonoma County probation officers, unarmed in the past, now sometimes carry guns. They've also undergone greater levels of tactical training and studied the volatile politics of state prison gangs that can spill out onto the street.

And all the work required at the Day Reporting Center is in addition to the supervision by probation officers, who make unannounced visits to people's homes and contact them out in the public.

A special unit of a dozen officers, including a detective from the Sheriff's Office and a CHP officer, deal with these higher-level offenders serving probation instead of parole.

The officers also are trained in a type of motivational interviewing designed to build rapport with clients and help them think positively.

On Thursday, a team of probation officers in two unmarked patrol cars drove up a winding road to a home in the hills above Guerneville.

They knocked on the door of David O'Neal, 49, who by his own admission has been in and out of jail and prison since he was a teenager for various crimes, mostly surrounding the sale and use of drugs.

The officers called for O'Neal to come outside. O'Neal had shown up for a drug test earlier that day at the Day Reporting Center as required and officers had recently searched his home. But they were back again.

With 119 days left of the drug tests, unannounced visits and other realities of probation, O'Neal said he's had to adjust to the stiffer requirements and felt he most likely benefited from it.

"I'd probably be selling weed if I wasn't on supervision," O'Neal said. "You've got to change yourself. I've been going through the system since I was 19 years old."

Across the county at a west Santa Rosa apartment complex, two officers in protective gear walked up the stairs to a second-story unit, avoiding the sight lines of a camera they knew the client had trained on his car in the parking lot.

The man's girlfriend met the officers on a balcony outside their front door and said he was at work and would be home in an hour.

They've been supervising the man since he was among the first state prisoners released to the county in 2011. They've seen him through hiccups such as when he was arrested on suspicion of battery after a fight in Healdsburg and successes in getting a job as a plumber and staying out of trouble for months on end.

Outside the apartment Thursday, the man's girlfriend, who identified herself only as Tricia, said that having the county involved is better for families.

She said her boyfriend had been given more chances to stay out of custody than he would have received previously. But if he went back, he'd likely go to the jail in Santa Rosa, rather than a prison facility sometimes hours away.

The proximity "is a lot more convenient for your family when you get in trouble," said Tricia, 34, noting that the jail and services are nearby.

Back in the patrol car, Deputy Probation Officer Darren Fravel, who oversees the unit, said officers now can choose to send someone to jail for a couple of days when they screw up, which is sometimes all it takes to get a person out of a crisis. In contrast, parole violations could send a person back to prison for a year.

"We have flexibility. We might put you on electronic monitoring, into a treatment program," Fravel said. "This has let counties create our own criminal justice plan."

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.