Under Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed budget, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations will be cut by about $1.1 billion.
The department plans to eliminate the Department of Juvenile Justice and reduce the number of women in prisons.
The CDCR also will lose more positions than any other department...
LINK - KCRA.com
The wave of inmates arriving in Orange County jails as part of a wide-ranging overhaul of the state correctional system slowed in December, as local law-enforcement officials continued to adjust to increased responsibility for confining and monitoring convicts.
After two months of inmates arriving faster than expected in Orange County jails, the number of newly sentenced prisoners and those sent away for parole violations began to taper off last month, said Cmdr. Steve Kea of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
In an effort to ease crowding in the California prison system, state officials in October began requiring county law-enforcement agencies to house more nonviolent, non-sex-offender inmates in local jails...
LINK - OCRegister.com
Construction is well under way on the California Health Care Facility, a nearly $1 billion prison medical project in southeast Stockton, and the action is expected to only get hotter.
Clark/McCarthy, the general contractor assembling the facility's 31 main buildings, currently has about 120 employees and subcontractors on site.
"We'll be almost 1,200 by the Fourth of July," predicted Mike Ricker, Clark/McCarthy vice president...
LINK - RecordNet.com
The city of Chowchilla said Thursday it plans to file a legal challenge against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation about the state prison system's attempt to convert the Valley State Prison for Women into a men's prison.
"The Chowchilla City Council feels it is imperative to take necessary steps to protect our community and our rural way of life from the state's planned prison conversion," Mayor Janan Hebert said in a news release. "It's unfortunate that we have to file papers in court in order to keep our neighborhoods secure, but CDCR has left us with no other options."
At the heart of the controversy are fears that families of male inmates will relocate to the area at a higher rate than families of female inmates and overwhelm the city's limited public resources. Also, Madera County District Attorney Michael Keitz has voiced concerns that male prisoners would be more violent and thus require his office to prosecute more assault cases and the county to hire more sheriff's deputies...
LINK - MercedSunStar.com
Following years of failed attempts to better serve juvenile offenders and the public's safety, California's once-sprawling youth corrections system may soon bow to a final, unprecedented strategy: shutting its locked gates for good.
Budget pressure in a system with annual costs of $200,000 per ward drove Gov. Jerry Brown this week to propose halting all new intakes at the Division Of Juvenile Justice. If approved by state legislators, beginning next year the state's three remaining prisons would then shrink themselves to oblivion, as current inmates complete their terms. Under the plan, county probation departments would assume the custody and treatment of all juvenile offenders -- an expansion from current practice where only the most serious and violent are housed by the state...
LINK - MercuryNews.com
This is CCPOA's 5150 information hotline for Friday, January 6, 2012.
CCPOA NEWS
Parole Agent Shot By Parolee– As many of you have already heard, a parole agent was shot by a parolee this week in the Los Angeles suburb of Lake View Terrace. The parolee, it was reported, was shot six times and eluded captured for a few hours. The agent is recovering after successful surgery. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family. Please see our website for more information.
Meet & Confer Notices– CCPOA has responded to another batch of notices from the department with formal requests for Meet & Confer to discuss the impact of the notices on Unit 6 employees. The documents will be posted shortly, so please check the website over the next few days.
CCPOA Weekly Updates– As part of the 5150, we are including a new weekly update from CCPOA leadership which seeks to provide current information to the membership. We will be posting these updates in .pdf format on the website each Friday, so please take a moment to check it out.
DJJ Update - By Daryl Lee, DJJ VP
It’s only the first week and I can already tell that 2012 is destined to be a very busy year. First and foremost, the Governor’s 2012-13 Budget Proposal calls for the complete shift of all youthful offenders to local jurisdictions by Jan. 1, 2013. We will obviously be employing every technique at our disposal to dissuade the Governor from this shift. However, if it does come to pass, we will work to ensure continued employment for every displaced DJJ employee. Second, CCPOA is hard at work fighting the Department’s refusal to accommodate three DJJ board coordinating parole agents (part of the DJJ parole closures), who are now facing layoff. We’ve filed an appeal and will do everything within our power to right the state’s wrong. Third, we’re in discussion with the Administration to ascertain impacts and alternatives to the DJJ trigger cuts. As of Jan. 1, the state began charging counties $125,000 per youth, per year — meaning some counties will be withdrawing wards and rehousing them at the county level. So stay tuned. And finally, I’ll be attending DJJ Chapter meetings around the state starting this month to provide updates on the YCC post-and-bid agreement reached in December. Please try to make these meetings if at all possible — I hope to see you there.
Supervisory Update — By Kevin Raymond, Supervisory VP
With the holidays now behind us, we’ve hit the ground running and won’t stop until we achieve our goals. CCPOA continues to have in depth discussions with the State regarding the effects of AB 109, with the purpose of minimizing its impact on our ranks through opportunities for voluntary transfers to institutions with vacancies. And despite the obstacles presented by the recent holidays and AB 109 negotiations, we’re ever vigilant in our efforts to secure a date with the State to discuss a wide variety of other issues, related to supervisory benefits. We’ll keep you posted with our progress.
Legislative Update -By Stephen Walker, Chief of Legislative Affairs
The State Legislature reconvened from Interim Recess on Wednesday, January 4, so there’s not much to report as of yet. But with a number of bill deadlines later this month, things will begin to move pretty quickly. More next week.
Legal Update - By Chief Counsel Dan Lindsay/Sup. Attorney Shelley Lytle
2012 will bring more than a new President — it also brings changes to the Family Medical Leave Act and California Family Rights Act that could affect you and your family. Specifically, starting Jan. 1, 2012, CDCR will use the calendar year to determine your eligibility for FMLA/CFRA, however the qualifications for leave remain the same. For more on the FMLA/CFRA changes, please see the full item posted on the website.
CDCR NEWS
Chowchilla to Sue Over VSPW Conversion– The city of Chowchilla is set to file suit against the CDCR over the impact that the conversion of VSPW to a men’s facility will have on the community. The full story is on our website.
State Prison Hospital to Open in 2013– CDCR is expected to open the new state prison hospital located in Stockton late next year. When completed by the end of 2013, the 1.2 million-square-foot facility will provide long-term medical and mental-health care to 1,722 state prisoners. The finished prison will employ 2,400 doctors, nurses and correctional staffers with an annual payroll of $220 million. For more on this, please see our website.
Adelanto Seeks State Prison- The city of Adelanto is working up the drawings for a new prison that would be operated by the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and could pour up to $5 million annually into city coffers. The proposal is for the city to use bond or private financing to build two side-by-side facilities that house up to 6,100 inmates and staff roughly 2,000 employees. The proposed 226-acre site is in industrial area near the current San Bernardino County Adelanto Detention Center. Please see our website for the full news story.
CAPITOL NEWS
Governor’s Proposed State Budget Released– Governor Brown released his proposed budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year. There are billions in cuts, along with an expectation that his revenue proposals will be approved by voters this November. With regards to corrections, the budget trims about $1.1 billion from CDCR – based largely on the continued anticipated decline in the inmate population. The cuts include the reduction in the number of authorized positions in the department, largely targeting vacant positions currently being filled by overtime. This is in addition to the proposal to eliminate intake for DJJ, as explained by DJJ VP Daryl Lee earlier. The conversion of VSPW is included, as well as delaying the opening of former DJJ facilities for adult inmates. We’ll have more on the proposed budget changes next week. We’ve posted a couple of news stories describing the proposed budget impact on CDCR on our website. Please keep in mind that the budget is the Governor’s proposal, not the final spending plan which must be approved by the Legislature.
NOTICES
PeaceKeeper Ideas – If you have any article suggestions or topics you would like to see covered in the PeaceKeeper, please email Nichol Gomez at nichol.gomez@ccpoa.org.
CCPOA Annual Conference and Convention – CCPOA has announced the dates for the annual convention and training conference. It will be held at the Peppermill Resort in Reno on Wednesday and Thursday, August 29th & 30th, with a state board meeting on Tuesday the 28th.
State Board Meeting– The January Board of Directors meeting will cover two days and has been set for January 20 & 21 at the Capitol Plaza Holiday Inn.
Chapter Presidents Training– New Chapter President training will be held the day before, on Thursday, January 19th at CCPOA Headquarters.
When staff assaults occur, please send a completed staff assault alert form to Nichol Gomez at nichol.gomez@ccpoa.org
For the latest information on the state budget, pension reform, prison realignment, private prisons and parolee problems, please go to the CCPOA website where we post the information as it comes in.
Thanks for calling the 5150 hotline, have a safe shift.
The state’s prison inmate population is shrinking, but the number of convicted criminals housed inside Riverside County jails is growing, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
“As of January 5, 2012, the Sheriff's Department's jails are housing 735 inmates who would have been sent to state prison for felony court convictions or violations of their state parole,” according to a Friday news release from the Sheriff’s Department.
Federal courts have forced California to reduce its inmate population as a way to better care for those incarcerated in what is the nation’s largest prison system. The state has been blasted by the courts for overcrowding and lack of inmate health care in its prison system...
LINK - LakeElsinore-Wildomar.Patch.com
As California begins shifting supervision of thousands of newly released state prisoners to local probation agencies, ex-convicts are arriving with incomplete medical records and more serious mental illnesses than anticipated. And mental health officials are scrambling to provide appropriate — and often costly — treatment.
"At the start, every day ... there was a crisis," said Dr. Marvin Southard, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. "There was somebody we didn't know what to do with."
In some cases, he said, released inmates have had to be immediately transferred to hospitals or residential centers for psychiatric care...
LINK - LATimes.com
Not that many years ago, California legislators worked themselves into a law-and-order frenzy, and with voters' help, infused the justice system with steroids by approving the nation's toughest "three-strikes" sentencing measure.
How the pendulum has swung.
After unrelenting prison growth dating back decades, Gov. Jerry Brown proposed a budget last week that would slash $1.1 billion from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, paring its annual budget to $8.7 billion...
LINK - SacBee.com
Well, golly, gee whiz -- AB 109 is still a newborn and here's what we have already found:
* That California counties north to south have received two to three times the number of realigned triple-nons -- nonserious, nonviolent, nonsexual felons -- and parolees estimated by California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. This at a time when city and county law enforcement and court budgets are being shrunk.
* That counties are suddenly recognizing that the health and mental health needs (and costs) of the CDCR transferees far exceed needs and costs estimated and funded for by the state...
LINK - Bakersfield.com
The plan to move inmates from overcrowded state prisons into county correctional situations is still a work in progress.
This Tuesday night, a countywide town hall meeting in Redwood City will address what's been done so far in San Mateo County, and request public input on where we should be going.
"Yes, it will be two-way discussion," says San Mateo County Chief Probation Officer Stuart Forrest. "Now that we have more specifics of expectations and assumptions surrounding this population, we've begun working on the local plan."
AB 109, signed by Governor Jerry Brown last year, pushed so-called "low-level" inmates out of state prisons, and into the hands of counties throughout California...
LINK - HalfMoonBay.Patch.com
County parole departments in California are in the third month of trying to integrate former prison inmates into county probation systems. Such inmates are classified as non-violent, non-serious, non-sex-offenders. So far, Sacramento County has processed 700 of them, including one man, Aaron Suggs, who was arrested this week for sexually assaulting a woman and robbing her in her home.
Suggs was released to Sacramento County Probation as a non-serious offender under the state's new "re-alignment" policy. He had been in prison for drugs.
Alan Seeber is with Sacramento County probation. He says the state's classification of some parolees is flawed...
LINK - CapRadio.org
A Republican lawmaker who opposes shifting supervision of many felons from the state to counties voiced concern Wednesday over the arrest of a Sacramento man this week on sexual assault charges a month after he was released from state prison.
Aaron Suggs had been designated a non-serious, nonviolent felon when he was released from state prison Dec. 8 after serving a sentence for drug possession. That designation resulted in his supervision, upon release, being assigned to the Sacramento County Probation Department rather than state parole agents under a program adopted by the state last year to cut its costs...
LINK - LATimes.com
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) announced today that approximately 300 inmates began rioting at Kern Valley State Prison (KVSP). The inmates started the riot at approximately 1:45 p.m. on the Facility A recreation yard, a level IV general population facility. Correctional officers responded and utilized less lethal rounds, chemical agents, and two warning shots fired from rifles to quell the disturbance. Several inmates received stab, puncture, and slashing type wounds, none of which were life threatening and no staff members were injured...
LINK - CDCRToday.com
Prisoners serving long sentences under California’s “three strikes” law are so expensive that legislative analysts say releasing some of them early could eventually save the state $100 million.
A proposed ballot measure, called the Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012 [PDF], would amend the landmark sentencing law that brought jail terms of 25 years to life to criminals convicted of three offenses.
Major savings to California taxpayers are central to proponents’ pitch for the measure. But if it passes, the big reduction in state prison spending is not guaranteed...
LINK - CaliforniaWatch.org
Governor Brown’s surprised Californians by unveiling his 2012-13 budget five days early on January 5th. The Budget has Californians calling for additional cuts to the corrections budget to prevent even further slashing of welfare, childcare, health care, education, and job opportunities. The 2012-2013 proposal, which includes $8.887 billion in General Fund spending for Corrections, comes the same week as severe trigger cuts from last year’s budget and just days before 25 Counties are due to submit funding requests to build $602 million worth of jails across the state.
Until this year, when many of the state’s corrections needs were outsourced to the county level with Brown’s Public Safety Realignment, General Fund spending for prisons had climbed steadily from $604.2 million in 1980-81 to $9.6 billion in 2010-11, or from 2.9 percent to 10.5 percent of the state’s General Fund. This year’s Budget projects $8.9 billion of General Fund expenditure on corrections, down from $9.6 billion last year...
LINK - CaliforniaProgressReport.com
The Los Angeles County Probation Department has not fulfilled seven federally ordered reforms at its youth camps.
A report released late last week by federal monitors found that the agency still needs to improve staffing levels at some of its 14 camps, improve how it identifies youths who have mental problems and do a better job of evaluating and treating youths with medical problems, among other issues.
The probation department, which houses and works to rehabilitate about 2,200 of the area's most troubled youths, has been under federal oversight for almost a decade. As part of a 2008 deal, federal officials threatened to take over the department unless it complied with 41 reforms...
LINK - LATimes.com
The Governor’s proposed tax initiative is the cornerstone of his 2012-13 budget plan, which includes proposals to restructure education finance, reduce social services and child care programs substantially, and implement trigger cuts--primarily affecting schools--if voters do not approve the tax measure.
The Governor’s plan would continue the difficult task of restoring the state budget to balance, but the difficulty in knowing how much taxable income will be attributable to high-income Californians makes the state’s revenue estimates an even bigger question mark than usual.
With regard to the Governor’s major proposals, we think the Governor’s education restructuring proposals would institute lasting improvements to the system, and we observe that, while his social services and child care proposals have merit, they involve considerable drawbacks as well, given potentially severe impacts on affected families...
Reduces pension benefits for current and future public employees, including teachers, nurses, and peace officers, but excluding judges. Eliminates constitutional protections for current and future public employees' vested pension benefits. Creates hybrid pension plan for new employees, capping collective benefits at 75 percent of salary. Limits cost-of-living adjustments for retired and current employees. Prohibits public retirement systems from providing death or disability benefits to future employees. Requires that current employees add up to three percent of their salary to their pension contribution annually, when pension plan is underfunded. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government...
LINK - SOS.ca.gov