Board of Corrections Audit of Shasta County Jail
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Board urges jail changes State auditors say guards are overworked, policies are lax
Alex Breitler
December 08, 2002 — 2:23 a.m.
Sheriff Jim Pope sought the audit after convicted murderer Paul Gordon Smith and double-murder suspect and convicted arsonist Benjamin Matthew Williams attacked a guard with a handmade hatchet in June. Williams committed suicide in his cell five months after the attack. Authorities say they have yet to determine how Williams got the razor blade he used to slash himself to death during the early-morning hours of Nov. 17. The Sheriff's Department says it has acted on about a dozen of the suggestions by the corrections team. The department agreed to more than half the suggestions and promised to consider others, but rejected a handful. The department is not required to take any action. In a summary, the audit team said the jail was well-run overall but had some areas in which it could improve. "We've had our hands full," said Undersheriff Larry Schaller. "But we have good people. We have a facility we're making work as well as we can make it work." The Deputy Sheriffs Association, which represents those who work in the jail, received a copy of the audit in mid-November and plans to review it, said sheriff's Sgt. Paul Heckman, who heads the association. He said the group would notify sheriff's administrators of what it considers the most important issues. Neither the guard attack nor a prior inmate escape are mentioned specifically
in the audit. But it stresses a range of issues dealing with the jail's
facilities, staffing, security, communications and classification of inmates.
Unescorted visitors
Audit officials noticed many non-uniformed people — probation and parole officers, attorneys and county employees — moving unescorted throughout the jail.The auditors said they were told a badge identification system was unnecessary in Shasta County, where everyone knows everyone else. "Disturbingly, however, not all of the jail staff knew the identity of the non-uniformed personnel," auditors Jerry Read and James Marmack wrote. Sheriff's officials said they have started an identification system for those not in uniform. The jail also struggles with staffing, the audit found. The jail's 45 sheriff's deputies and corrections officers frequently work mandatory overtime on their days off, and some reported fatigue or decreased productivity. The shortage of personnel made staff often unable to perform essential tasks like "shakedowns," in which guards search inmates' cells. The Sheriff's Department has had trouble hiring and training, and does not have enough corrections officers to regularly fill the minimum 19 positions needed in the jail over a 24-hour period. The board recommended a thorough staffing analysis, for which the Sheriff's Department says it will hire an outside consultant. That analysis will have to be done before some of the auditors' suggestions can be acted on, jail officials said. But, they add, their staffing levels are already approved by the Board of Corrections. "Do we have enough (officers) to do business? Yes," said jail Capt.
Don VanBuskirk.
Changing the guards
Also at issue is the jail's transition from traditional sheriff's deputies to corrections officers, who require 200 hours of training. Sworn peace officers need 575 to 600 hours.Corrections officers are also paid less, starting at $25,884 annually compared with a deputy's $32,244 annual starting salary, according to figures released earlier this year. Requiring less training should make it easier to hire officers, sheriff's officials say. It also allows sheriff's deputies in the jail to patrol the streets instead, filling vacancies left by a swell of outgoing retirees. But the audit asks that the Sheriff's Department revisit using corrections officers to ensure security isn't compromised. Sheriff's officials agreed, saying they will train corrections officers to have more abilities, including some power to arrest and the authorization to carry handguns. Many counties in California have made the same transition to corrections officers. But sacrificing quality for cost is rarely a good idea, said Stephen Ingley, executive director of the Maryland-based American Jails Association. His group represents jailers and corrections departments across the nation. "Paying somebody less money to work in the jail — I don't see how that's going to improve the operation," he said. And although the move to corrections officers is intended to ease recruitment and retention woes, recent events at the jail may make fewer people willing to do the job, said Heckman, who heads the Deputy Sheriffs Association. "I'm sure it's a concern to people applying," he said.
A dangerous place
Officials say a growing population of inmates charged with felonies has made the West Street jail a more dangerous facility. For that reason, the audit scrutinizes whether inmates charged with violent crimes should work in the jail.In June, just weeks before the assault on the guard, inmate Danny Enquist — who had been awaiting trial for six months on kidnapping, robbery and assault charges — escaped out the jail's front door while mopping the lobby. He was arrested six days later in Montana. Auditors suggested bringing inmates from the lower-security jail annex on Radio Lane for kitchen and laundry work in the main jail basement. But sheriff's officials said they fear inmate transportation would pose a security risk, with the potential for escape and filtering of contraband in and out of the jail. Possibly of the most interest to deputies is a recommendation to move sheriff's service officers — staff who monitor cameras, open remote doors and answer telephones — back onto the upper floors of the jail at night, Heckman said. An expanded central control room on the ground floor allowed officials to recently cut the number of service officers at night from four to two. Instead of having one such officer on each level of the jail, just two are now on duty, both in the central command room. The authors of the audit contend it's now more difficult to monitor and track corrections officers who are patrolling the upper levels, where most inmates are held. Officials say it's difficult to know if having service officers on those floors would have helped thwart the attack on jail guard Timothy Renault, or at least lessen its severity. Still, having service officers on the jail's upper floors is a priority, Heckman said. "You can be assured we're going to try to make that happen," he said. Sheriff's officials say they'll consider the request. They already have
corrections officers double up on graveyard patrols in the high-security
unit where the attack took place, VanBuskirk said.
Future funding
Jails everywhere are struggling with some of the same problems named in the audit, said Ingley, director of the jails association. The bottom line, he said, is that funding jail systems will never be as popular as allocating dollars to schools or other community projects."Everyone wants everyone locked up but they don't want to pay for it," Ingley said. "The jail is usually at the bottom of the funding totem pole." In Shasta County, however, the Board of Supervisors has exceeded minimum funding for the Sheriff's Department by about $5 million each year, said County Administrative Officer Doug Latimer. Jail funding accounts for about 40 percent of the department's roughly $22 million budget. But getting any more money will be a challenge. Gov. Gray Davis on Friday proposed $10.2 billion in budget cuts, and 80 percent of Shasta County's funding comes from the state and federal government. "I really question in the coming year whether we're going to have any discretionary money left," Latimer said. Although the jail's requested $9 million budget was awarded nearly in full this year, officials say the jail needs more improvements than they can simultaneously provide. "You can't turn this into a state-of-the-art 2002 jail," said VanBuskirk, the jail's commander. "A 1976 VW bug is a '76 bug. It can't be a Cadillac." No matter what money is spent keeping jailers safe and inmates behind bars, a certain risk will remain, Ingley said. "It's a dangerous job — you can't get around that fact," said Ingley.
"What's important is that facilities have well-written policies and procedures,
that the staffing is adequate and that all the officers are highly trained.
. . . Unfortunately, in a lot of cases that's not how it works."
Reporter Alex Breitler can be reached at 225-8344 or at abreitler@redding.com . Sunday, December 8, 2002 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
URL: http://www.redding.com/top_stories/local/20021208toplo017.shtml -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sheriff's Department makes changes after audit
Alex Breitler
December 08, 2002 — 2:18 a.m.
Some of the auditors' observations and the sheriff's actions: • A computer record of inmates' housing restrictions was "difficult to understand," the auditors wrote, and it was hard to find a record of each inmate's classification. Sheriff's officials said they would review the system. • Five log books were established after the audit to keep track of strange or unusual situations. • Policy on weapons that officers may or may not be brought into the jail was applied inconsistently, the auditors reported. Jailers said they will fix the discrepancy. • Jail staff should routinely patrol the basement kitchen and laundry areas, the audit reports. Staff should also review the classification of inmates working in those areas. The Sheriff's Department now routinely reviews those workers, and said it will patrol the basement regularly. Officials plan to eventually move the kitchen and laundry off-site. • Sheriff's officials say they've fixed a procedural problem pointed out by auditors in which an inmate could follow a corrections officer onto a catwalk and out of one of the jail's cell "pods." • Service officers and corrections officers both work 12-hour shifts but arrive at different times. The Sheriff's Department responded by changing staff hours so that all officers could attend briefings, improving communication. • Service officers work 12-hour shifts, yet agreed during contract negotiations to take only three 15-minute breaks each shift, including their lunch breaks, auditors said. That might be a strain on those employees, they said. Sheriff's officials agreed. • Some staff feel that when it comes to decisions of inmate discipline, "the administration isn't 'backing them,' " the auditors wrote. They recommended an administrator review inmate discipline cases. Sheriff's officials said that would cause a delay, and they already photocopy disciplinary forms to officers with explanations for any changes. • Auditors recommended purchasing new technology, including replacing officers' personal alarm systems and adding "panic alarms" to inmates' cells. Right now, they wrote, unless officers happen to be listening in on a given cell, there is no way for that inmate to notify officers of an emergency, other than screaming or kicking the door. In response, sheriff's officials said the alarms would be a large expense,
but said they would review the possibility.
Reporter Alex Breitler can be reached at 225-8344 or at abreitler@redding.com.
Sunday, December 8, 2002 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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