Grand Jury does not pass go but
goes directly to main jails for report

June 17, 2015
Santa Paula News

The Grand Jury did not pass go but went directly to jail for its report on facilities throughout Ventura County, including Ventura’s Main Jail and the Todd Road Jail located just west of Santa Paula.

The report, Detention Facilities and Related Law Enforcement Issues, noted that although the county has had “measurable success” with dealing with realignment overcrowding continues to be an issue at the county jails despite the county’s efforts to deal with the influx of prisoners.

The state-certified maximum capacity for the Main Jail located at the Ventura County Government Center on Victoria Avenue in Ventura, Todd Road jail and a small jail facility in Thousand Oaks is 1,644 detainees, but the report noted the population routinely exceeds 1,680. When grand jurors inspected the jails, there were a total of 1,728 prisoners, the report stated, 868 in Todd Road (45 over capacity) and 850 in the Main Jail (54 over capacity); although the capacity of the Thousand Oaks Jail is 20 its use is confined to booking and housing working inmates known as trusties and 10 such trusties were in residence during the grand jury visit.

The good news is that the Juvenile Justice facility in El Rio has a bed capacity for 450 juvenile offenders, there were only 80 in residence although staffing could support 150 inmates.

The grand jury reported that by constructing a mental health facility with 64 beds at the Todd Road Jail — a controversial issue for some in Santa Paula — would free up cells being used as mental health housing at the Main Jail, provide increased safety for mental health inmates and free up more space at the Main Jail for about 100 regular inmates.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office applied in July 2013 for a state grant for the Todd Road Jail expansion but it was denied; in December the Board of Supervisors authorized the VCSO to reapply and the application is pending.

For the present the grand jury reported that having more inmates due to prison realignment has also meant increased incidents of inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff assaults at both jails.

The grand jury also noted an evaluation by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and Probation Agency should measure the local impact of Proposition 47, which called for the reclassification of many drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.

Proposition 47 was passed by voters in November and the grand jury reported that reclassification from felonies to misdemeanors requires “only the issue of citations…”

Ventura County received $17 million from the State to support Realignment for Fiscal Year 2014-2015 for an array of programs to help deal with the released prisoners — known as “nons” because they are classified as nonviolent, non-serious and nonsexual offenders — from more supervision and support services to job training and employment opportunities.





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