Articles & News

March 31, 2008

Two plans aim to reduce recidivism

Andrew Edwards, Staff Writer

State and local officials said over the past week that they're still pursuing new corrections facilities that are intended to prevent San Bernardino County parolees from returning to prison.

There are two types of institutions that could be used locally as attempts to reform corrections policies. One would be geared toward assisting inmates who have yet to be released from prison, and the other is intended to serve probationers and parolees who are at risk of being sent behind bars.

But at this point, it's still not certain when those new institutions may be parts of the county's public safety landscape.

Despite officials' enthusiasm for the planned facilities, the state budget crisis and a lawsuit that challenges major prison reform legislation both present obstacles to law enforcement.

The pre-release plan involves the creation of what prison officials call "a secure re-entry facility." Basically, such an institution would be like a small prison where inmates finish their sentences before being released to society.

Prisoners, still under lockdown, would be sent to facilities that are close to where they lived before they entered the corrections system.

The theory behind these kinds of facilities is that inmates may be less likely to re-offend if they can receive counseling and be put into contact with local law enforcement and service providers before the inmates are back on the streets.

"They're going to be
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released anyway, so let's try to train them first," said Sgt. Dave Phelps, of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

Phelps said sheriff's administrators contemplate that three such facilities could one day be in place in the county. Prospective sites are Devore, near the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center; Apple Valley; and Adelanto.

Locally, it's too early to say when any of those facilities would be built, Phelps said.

The first-ever secure re-entry facility is set to be established in Stockton by converting a women's prison into the new institution.

But there's a lawsuit that challenges the law that authorized these types of facilities. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed that law, A.B. 900, last May. The legislation calls for $7.7 billion - almost all bond revenues - to be used to build re-entry facilities and increase prison and jail capacities.

A group called Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety has a case pending against the law in court.

The group objects to the law because the types of bonds used to finance A.B. 900 projects were not subject to a public vote.

Gordon Hinkle, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said the prison agency is going forward with A.B. 900 without being worried about the lawsuit.

The second type of facility, intended to help offenders who are not incarcerated, is called a day-reporting center. Such a facility could provide services such as substance-abuse counseling or vocational assistance to parolees who otherwise would likely be sent back to prison.

"Sending a person (to prison) doesn't necessarily change behavior in a positive sense," said Dan Bautista, division director for county probation.

Bautista said the plan under consideration would present a different twist on existing day reporting centers in California, because it would provide services intended to prevent both parolees and probationers from committing new crimes.

He said a day-reporting center is a place where a parolee who commits a minor offense, such as a substance-abuse or property crime-related violation, can avoid an automatic return to prison if the parolee checks into the center daily.

While there, parolees have a chance to learn how to live responsibly.

Bautista said it's unrealistic to expect parolees, who are often poorly educated, addicted or even homeless, to suddenly reform.

"To simply try to force people to rehabilitate without addressing those issues is a waste of time," Bautista said.

A center could cost $2 million annually, Bautista said.

State prisons chief James E. Tilton sent a letter to San Bernardino Mayor Pat Morris in which he asserts his intention to find financing for such a center in the county.

"I agree that even in difficult financial times, we should give priority to programs, like Day Reporting Center, which improve public safety. As a result, I have directed my staff to use an alternative funding source for the project," Tilton wrote.