Probation

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February 8, 2012 | 8:52 AM | By

California probation officers: less tough, more love

By Nicole Jones

Criminal justice realignment is changing the way probation officers are managing offenders, reports the San Jose Mercury News. Motivational interviewing is reemerging in probation offices across the state as a tool to better prepare probationers for reentry. Studies show that motivational interviewing and other techniques like cognitive behavioral therapy and positive client development will prevent inmates from becoming repeat offenders. But it all starts with teaching probation officers a less punitive, more collaborative approach to dealing with offenders.

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FILED UNDER: Corrections, Probation, Realignment
August 3, 2011 | 3:09 PM | By

Eight facts & figures about SF’s new prisoners

Ben Chaney

As you may have heard, counties in California are taking over some of the responsibilities formerly held by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. In an effort to comply with a federal court order to drastically reduce the state prison population, the shift to the county will come in several phases over the next few years. The first phase starts October 1, 2011. On that date, people leaving state prison who are classified as “low-risk” for reoffending (and who did not commit serious, violent, or sex offenses) will not be supervised by state parole agents. Additionally, people convicted of certain lower-level felonies will no longer serve their sentences in state prison. And those who’re out on parole or county supervision, with few exceptions, will no longer go back to prison if they violate the conditions of their release. Right now, counties are rushing to get ready for this new set of responsibilities–a shift that many are calling the biggest shakeup to criminal justice in California in decades–and there are many, many questions they’re asking themselves. Do they have enough room in their jail? Do they have enough probation officers to supervise the new caseloads? Will crime levels go up?

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FILED UNDER: Community, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Parole, Prison Overcrowding, Probation, Realignment
April 7, 2011 | 9:57 AM | By

Why do different counties have such different juvenile halls?

Rina Palta

Downtown Watsonville

On last night’s Crosscurrents, we aired a piece on the juvenile probation division in Santa Cruz County–a community that’s worked hard over the last two decades to drastically reduce the number of kids in juvenile halls. What’s remarkable about different counties’ approaches to juvenile justice is that they are so very different.

Take Santa Cruz County and its neighbor Monterey County. Both places are coastal, agricultural, and vote Democrat. Monterey County is about twice the size of Santa Cruz population-wise, and accordingly, has about twice the number of felony arrests as Santa Cruz County. But Monterey County has about five to ten times the number of kids in juvenile hall on any given night. Why?

A complicated question, and one that this piece on Santa Cruz tries to get to the heart of: mainly, how this particular county went from having an overcrowded juvenile hall, to becoming a national model for developing alternatives to incarcerating youth. Each place is unique, so it’s hard to hold up any one program or system as a blanket solution, but Santa Cruz County provides some interesting insights into how change happens. Transcript after the jump.

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FILED UNDER: Corrections, Juvenile Justice, Probation, Santa Cruz
March 7, 2011 | 3:00 PM | By

GPS units for gang-affiliated probationers in Alameda County

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

Apparently, it's not so hard to break GPS bracelets off.

Under a new policy adopted in mid-February, Alameda County probationers with “gang” status security levels are to be fitted with Global Positioning System devices. Two of the defendants in the Oakland Norteño injunction, Angelo Ortega and David Hernandez, have been equipped with GPS bracelets during that time period.

Alameda County’s adotpion of GPS technology is the latest chapter in law enforcement’s embrace of enhanced monitoring of individuals with gang ties. In 2010, California implemented a pilot program to monitor 1,000 gang-affiliated parolees in hopes of reducing their chances of re-offending. Javier Quintero, another Fruitvale defendant, wears a GPS bracelet as a condition of his parole.

When probationers are released from jail or prison, they are given a security level based on the probation department’s assessment of their past offenses, behavior while incarcerated, and probability of breaking the law again. A probation officer can generally change that security level if he or she believes the individual needs more or less supervision.

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FILED UNDER: Corrections, Alameda County Probation Department, Oakland, Oakland Police Department, Probation
February 17, 2011 | 6:11 PM | By

Could ending parole stop the revolving door to prison?

Dan4th Nicholas

What’s one of the biggest public safety issues that no one cares (or maybe even knows) about? Reentry–the moment when an inmate leaves state prison and returns home, and all the pitfalls, complications, and life-changing decisions that happen in those first few days, weeks, and months of freedom. Or at least, that’s what San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi was trying to convey at today’s meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ Public Safety Committee.

San Francisco has a particularly high rate of failure when it comes to reentry–78 percent return to prison within 3 years. That recidivism rate is 10 percent above the state average, which is already considered one of the highest in the nation. Yet when it comes to this population of parolees, ”people are not connecting the dots” between helping them succeed and keeping the city safe, Mirkarimi said. When it comes to preventing crime through preventing re-offending, “I don’t think the general public has wrapped their head around how holistic this problem is.”

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FILED UNDER: Corrections, Budget, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Jerry Brown, Parole, Probation, Ross Mirkarimi, Wendy Still
November 15, 2010 | 1:19 PM | By

What awaits Alameda County’s new probation chief

Organizers and parents affiliated with the Ella Baker Center gather after petitioning the Board of Supes.

The Oakland Tribune had a solid article on this topic, so I’ll only add a couple of things.

First, here’s the breakdown. Alameda County is about to hire for an important post: chief of probation. About 18,000 adults and 2,000 juveniles are under the supervision of the probation department in Alameda County at any time. Donald Blevins, the previous chief, moved down to Los Angeles county to head up that troubled probation department. Blevins’ main claim to fame seems to be that he managed to cut $50 million (and 115 jobs) from his budget. In Los Angeles, he’s arrived in town as something of a reformer. The question now is what kind of person his replacement up here will be. And community groups like the Ella Baker Center for Human rights, which deals with a lot of issues surrounding juvenile justice, are peeved that the Board of Supervisors hasn’t included any of them in the process of looking for a new hire.

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FILED UNDER: Corrections, Alameda County, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Probation
November 1, 2010 | 3:28 PM | By

Mehserle – prison or parole?

This coming Friday will bring to a close another chapter – perhaps the final one – in the tragic saga of Oscar Grant and Johannes Mehserle. Since the former BART police officer shot and killed 23-year-old Grant on the platform of the Fruitvale station on January 1, 2009, the shooting has roiled Bay Area politics and communities.

Images and video of Grant’s death ignited public revulsion and touched off several days of civil disturbances in Downtown Oakland, resulting in hundreds of arrests and property damage. Mehserle, who fled the state after allegedly receiving death threats and resigned as a police officer rather than be interviewed by BART Internal Affairs investigators, was was arrested and indicted on murder charges by then-District Attorney Tom Orloff. Orloff resigned shortly after the decision to file charges. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Courts, Ed Steinman, Johannes Mehserle, Judge Robert J. Perry, Michael Rains, Oakland, Oscar Grant, Probation, Santa Clara Law, sentencing
September 21, 2010 | 9:26 AM | By

Q&A: Chief of Probation Wendy Still on how to end the prison crisis

Chief Adult Probation Officer Wendy Still

More and more, we’re paying attention to the incredible financial costs of putting people in prison. Some states are even giving judges a readout of price tags for various sentences they may choose to impose. Here in California, keeping an average inmate in a state prison costs about $140 per day. Compare that to the $4.85 per day it costs to keep a person on probation–where they live at home, but are subject to restrictions and supervision by a probation officer. Wendy Still has worked at both levels of the system. After three decades working in California’s prison system, including as a Chief Deputy Warden and a regional prison administrator, Still came to San Francisco to serve as the county’s chief of adult probation. I visited Chief Still at her office to talk about California’s correctional crisis and how probation might be a key to ending the overcrowding and high recidivism rates in state prisons.

FILED UNDER: Corrections, Courts, Correctional Crisis, Prison, Probation, San Francisco, Wendy Still