AnonymousSource: Santa Barbara County Grand Jury
Under California Penal Code Section 919 (b), the Grand Jury is required to “inquire into the condition and management of the public prisons within the county.” The 2019-20 Santa Barbara County Grand Jury visited all detention facilities in the County, consisting of the two principal County jails, the Lompoc City jail, the various police, sheriff and Superior Court holding facilities, the two juvenile detention facilities, the County Coroner’s Bureau and the Sobering Center – a total of twenty facilities.
The Grand Jury was impressed overall by the professionalism and dedication of the detention facility teams interviewed. These individuals play a critical role in keeping our communities safe. While a number of findings and recommendations were identified, none of these related to any deficiency in the way these professionals are performing their responsibilities.
The Jury is encouraged by the construction of the Northern Branch Jail and the relief it will make to the overcrowding in the Main Jail and added safety improvements. The Jury was impressed with the County employees’ creativity in making improvements above-and-beyond, and the dedication of volunteer organizations that are making a big difference, particularly in youth programs.
The majority of the findings and recommendations stem from the lack of funding, funding that is essential to add staff where needed, funding to upgrade older buildings, and funding to add new mission-critical technical systems for safer management.
The complete reports with agency responses are posted on the Grand Jury’s website: www.sbcgj.org .
Another Grand Jury kiss up to the right wing. No one should be recommending more money for the unneeded and grossly expensive jails we are operating. Substantially less money than is being spent on such stuff would take 30-40% of the inmate population out of the awful and ineffective jails and put them in mental health treatment and support settings where they and the community would benefit. Another 10+% should not be in jail as their ‘crimes’ are ones of circumstances such as lack of housing and food on the streets they live on. Sure some inmates need to be incarcerated but we lock people up for much too long and with much too little concern about how to keep them out of jail once they leave. To a large degree this is due to the lobbying of the prison/jail guards (whose members are literally some of the highest paid government employees in the state!). The GJ should be dealing with these needs and alternatives instead of giving us a Pollyanna report.