New CA Parolee Centers Approved
If all goes according to plan, Santa Maria and Santa Barbara will each have a day-time reporting center for state parolees up and running by July 1. Reported by the Santa Maria Times.
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved a contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Tuesday that will provide $3.2 million over two years for the new facilities.
Community Solutions Inc. (CSI), a private, nonprofit organization with a high success rate, has been tapped to run the program, but the Sheriff’s Department will oversee the operation.
Locations for the facilities have been tentatively set at 1775 S. McClelland St. in Santa Maria and at 127 E. Carrillo St. in Santa Barbara, Sheriff Bill Brown said.
Each facility will be able to assist 150 parolees annually, and on-site classes will be available from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week.
Services will include cognitive and life skills training, anger management and addiction support, parenting and family reintegration, GED preparation and education, budgeting and money management training, job readiness and job search assistance.
“This is the ultimate benefit for the community,” Brown said. “Parolees involved in the program are far more likely to be successful and not victimize a member of the community.”
Annually, hundreds of people are released from state prisons and paroled into Santa Barbara County with little to no preparation or supervision, Brown said.
There is a high percentage of parolees who re-offend and end up back in the criminal-justice system.
The County Jail has been under a court order to reduce overcrowding since 1986, and there seems to be no funding available for a proposed 300-bed North County jail.
While studying the problem, the department realized two things: A parolee re-offense leads to parole violations and ultimately more time in jail; and a day reporting center provides services that address the behaviors and factors that lead to re-offending.
“We need to be concerned about recidivism … because of the cost” to the various county departments and the community, Brown said.
The conclusion is that a parolee reporting center would decrease the number of inmates at the already bursting-at-the-seams jail.
First District Supervisor Salud Carbajal expressed concern about sheriff and probation protocols for dealing with a parolee who fails to show up for class or group.
But Brown assured the board that specific procedures would be put in writing when the issue comes back before the board April 20 for contract approval with CSI.
County staff will be holding an informational meeting in Santa Maria sometime in May or June, so that residents and business owners will know what to expect, Brown said.
Uncategorized