Jail staff points out ‘concerns’ to grand jury
Proposed Inyo County Grand Jury members announced
A lack of mental health services, job training and educational opportunities for inmates in the Inyo County Jail has created a situation where the jail is “a revolving door” for numerous inmates, according to what senior jail administrative staff told the 2021-22 Inyo County Grand Jury.
The jail staff said that lack of rehabilitation services is a major concern, but Sheriff’s Department and correctional staff “feel they are largely powerless to address the situation,” according the recently released Inyo County Grand Jury Report.
The county’s juvenile detention facility remains empty with no juveniles detained in the building, thanks to changes in state laws and a different philosophy regarding juvenile offenders. Those changes have saved the county substantial amounts of money over the years while providing more individual attention to juveniles in the justice system, the grand jury stated in its report.
The Inyo County
Grand Jury, like its counterparts across the state, has only a “watchdog” function. Its 10 volunteer members look into various issues with local government and provide a factual review of the issues, and then makes recommendations. Each year, a new group of volunteers form the grand jury. The full grand jury report is available at the Inyo County Superior Court website at wwww. inyocounty.us or at courts in Bishop and Independence.
The Grand Jury is specifically tasked with reviewing the management and conditions of “public prisons” in the county, according to the introduction to the final report.
The Inyo County Juvenile Detention Facility
Although there are no “inmates” in the juvenile detention facility in Independence, the grand jury outlined the facility’s recent history.
A change in state laws and philosophy regarding juvenile offenders led the county in 2016 to essentially stop placing juveniles in the facility. The population of the facility had dropped to two or three, from a previous high in double figures. To keep juveniles in custody 24 hours a day required a staff of 12 and cost up to $2 million a year.
The Probation Department works with juvenile offenders who have been taken into custody or been arrested and has wide latitude on how to proceed. Most offenders are counseled and released, the report states. About 90% of first offenders do not have
any additional contact with law enforcement, the report notes. There are about 50 juveniles under supervision in the county.
When a juvenile needs to be incarcerated, they are sent to a detention facility in either Sonora, Calif., or South Lake Tahoe. The cost is between $125 or $190 a day. On April 4, there was only one Inyo County Juvenile in custody.
The Inyo County Jail
Grand Jury members inspected the Inyo County Jail in Independence on April 18, 2022.
The jail is designed to hold 99 prisoners, but in the past year has averaged only about 50 inmates. The drop was attributed to “fewer jail sentences and shorter jail sentences in the past few years,” the report states. The cost to house an innate is about $222 a day. Pre-Covid, with a higher inmate population, the daily cost was about $157 a day.
One of first issues to arise, after discussions with “the jail’s senior administrative staff” was the huge increase in the number of inmates suffering from “diagnosable psychological issues” as opposed to temporary issues due to drugs or mental lapses at the time of arrest. About 30 to
40% of the current jail population has “permanent mental health problems,” staff estimated.
Larger county jails have full medical and psychiatric wards staffed by nurses, doctors and mental health professionals, the report states. But the Inyo County Jail “lacks the budget for this option.”
Inmates can participate in some in-jail selfhelp programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Anger Management Classes, Parenting
Classes, and Wild Iris Art Classes for domestic violence offenders. A new program, Moral Recognition Training, is designed to help prisoners deal with their emotions and recognize the effects of their actions. The 3-month program is voluntary and has helped some inmates not reoffend, the report notes.
The jail operation is facing an ongoing shortage of corrections officers, the report says. The job only requires a high school education, and the county pays for training and certification. The corrections officer jobs can pay between $55,000 and $60,000 a year, but rarely attract applicants, the report states.
The final paragraph of the Grand Jury report spells out what jail staff and administrators said was a critical problem they feel they cannot address:
“There are currently no GED classes or occupational training available to inmates. Correctional staff believe that without education, mental health services, occupational training and placement help, the jail will continue to function as a revolving door for inmates. The Sheriff’s department and correctional staff are deeply concerned about this issue, but feel they are largely powerless to address the situation.”
2022-2023 Inyo County Grand Jury members
The Inyo County Superior Court announced Tuesday a list of list of proposed grand jurors for the 2022-2023 term.
1. John Shepherd – Bishop,
2. Samantha Kline – Bishop
3. Karen Palley – Olancha
4. Edward Morse – Big Pine
5. Suzanne Roepke – Bishop
6. Mitchell Cox – Lone Pine
7. Randy Johnson – Bishop
The court still is looking for at least four more civil grand jurors for the July 2022 – June 2023 term, if interested please visit www.inyo.courts.ca. gov for more information or an application.