OFFICIALS TRYING TO REDUCE JAIL COUNT

Safety Group Forwards Ideas To Supervisors

Santa Clara County officials are considering a host of measures to
tackle a surge in the county's jail population this year.

The average daily inmate population at the county's two jails had
fallen from 4,700 in 1998 to 3,891 in 2002, but has risen ever since,
creeping up to 4,150 in 2004 and jumping to a projected 4,600 this
year. Last week, it grew to more than 4,700.

A recent county analysis suggests the surge is due to a number of
factors including increased jail bookings for drugs and domestic
violence, higher incarceration rates for women, and decisions to rent
cells to federal and state authorities.

Santa Clara County Chief of Correction Ed Flores said Wednesday the
inmate population growth largely reflects trends throughout California
and the United States that are easier to identify than to understand.

"We're feeling the same trend lines statewide and nationally,"
Flores said. "We're seeing an increase in the numbers coming into the
system. We're seeing an increase in the numbers of females in custody
statewide as well. These trends are easy to identify. It's
understanding the reasons for those trends that's extremely hard."

At a monthly county public safety committee meeting Wednesday, county
officials discussed 20 steps to help shrink the inmate population,
which will be forwarded to the board of supervisors next month for
consideration and approval.

Proposals

Proposals ranged from no-cost measures such as sending more petty
offenders into out-of-custody programs like community service, to
spending up to $2.12 million for a program to ease a backlog of cases
involving mentally ill drug offenders.

The growing jail population and resulting crowding can be a
significant public concern. California Board of Corrections field
representative Barbara Fenton said an inspection report completed by
the agency in September on Santa Clara County jails cited crowding as
a problem.

"It's always troubling," Fenton said, adding that while the state
board doesn't penalize jails for overcrowding, its findings can invite
costly litigation if local officials ignore them. "It's not so much
that we're going to do something, but it's a liability issue. Several
places have been hard hit with huge liability cases."

Santa Clara County was sued by inmate advocates over crowding and
other issues in the 1980s when its jails were run by the sheriff. In
1998, California's Little Hoover Commission found that "county jails
and state prisons do not have adequate space to house inmates and
adequate plans do not exist to deal with the crisis."

County officials said some criminal justice measures have helped ease
the problem, notably Proposition 36 in 2000, which allowed outside
treatment programs as an alternative to incarceration for drug
offenders. But others, like the state's 1994 "three strikes, you're
out" law, have increased mandated sentences, making it more difficult
to settle cases early and lengthening jail stays, they said.

The number of bookings at the jail has risen from nearly 62,000 in
2001 to more than 68,000 last year. While the number of men booked
rose 7 percent during that time, the number of women shot up 21
percent, with increases in offenses involving drugs, alcohol and
domestic violence.

County officials are expected to approve a handful of steps that can
be implemented at no extra cost, but will result in only modest
reductions in the jail population. Proposals involve diverting minor
offenders into out-of-custody programs such as community service,
electronic home monitoring, parole and release without bail.

Grants Could Help

A $173,000 federal justice assistance grant for a women's advocacy
initiative could help reduce the population of some female inmates,
county officials said, particularly those believed to be victims of
human trafficking.

A $1 million state Mental Health Services Act grant also could reduce
the jail population. The grant would pay for a county housing trust
fund pilot project aimed at helping mentally ill inmates whose release
has been held up by difficulty of finding a place to live on the outside.

The county also can tap up to $2.12 million from its general fund
public safety reserve for more beds in outside programs to ease a
backlog of drug cases involving mentally ill inmates.

County officials will consider other measures during budget
discussions next year. Under review is a $92,000 position for a jail
population manager, $550,000 for two more public defenders and two
paralegals to ease case backlogs, and $234,000 for an additional
prosecutor to speed resolution of major cases. One major case has kept
a defendant in custody more than 3,000 days.

At least part of the jail population problem is self-inflicted. The
county rents more than 300 jail beds to federal and state authorities
plus a handful of others to neighboring counties. But the county is
counting on the $5 million it received in rent, and Flores said
forgoing that would force him to lay off 50 jailers.

"It's a necessary evil as I see it at this point," Flores
said.