To: Board of Supervisors
From: David O. Livingston, Sheriff-Coroner
Report Title: ADOPT Policy and Procedures of the Office of the Sheriff Custody Alternative Facility Programs
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
RECEIVE and REVIEW the rules and regulations and administrative policy of the Office of the Sheriff’s Electronic Home Detention Program pursuant to Penal Code sections 1203.016 and 1203.018.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no fiscal impact.
BACKGROUND:
In 1983, the Board of Supervisors established the County’s Custody Alternative Program. The Sheriff’s Office’s Custody Alternative Facility (CAF) manages and operates the County’s offered custody alternatives, which include electronic home detention, a work release program, and remote alcohol monitoring.
The Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff is committed to utilizing resources to their highest potential. This necessitates a strong and progressive custody alternative program that provides alternatives to traditional incarceration while ensuring public safety. The CAF programs provide for public safety, maintain judicial confidence and, at the same time, allow participants to be contributing members of society while fulfilling their court-ordered sentences or as part of a pre-trial alternative for electronic home detention.
The Sheriff’s Office operates the Electronic Home Detention (EHD) Program, which provides a cost-effective detention alternative for the County to manage its jail population. This program is an alternative for participants who would otherwise be incarcerated in a County detention facility, at greater expense, to be placed on home detention and monitoring in lieu of incarceration. The Sheriff’s Office utilizes criteria for admission and disqualification to the EHD Program to assess participants’ suitability while ensuring that the safety of the community is not compromised. Participants are monitored through the use of electronic monitoring technology.
The Sheriff’s Office operates the EHD program for two different types of participants, as set forth in the Penal Code.
Pursuant to Penal Code section 1203.016, the Sheriff’s Office operates a program for convicted inmates. Under Section 1203.016, the Board of Supervisors, in consultation with the Sheriff’s Office, may prescribe reasonable rules and regulations under which the EHD program for convicted inmates may operate.
Pursuant to Penal Code section 1203.018, the Sheriff’s Office operates a program for pre-trial inmates. Under Section 1203.018, the Board of Supervisors, in consultation with the Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office, may prescribe reasonable rules and regulations under which the pre-trial EHD program may operate. The Sheriff’s Office has consulted with the District Attorney’s Office regarding the rules and regulations for pre-trial EHD participants. The District Attorney’s Office has approved the rules and regulations for these participants.
Penal Code sections 1203.016 and 1203.018 require that the Board of Supervisors annually review the rules and regulations and the administrative policy of the EHD program.
The Office of the Sheriff has conducted a thorough review of its CAF Programs and revised and updated the applicable policies, procedures, handbook, and forms. The primary change adopted in the policy revisions is the removal of the cost charged to a participant as a result of legislative changes.
Attached to this staff report is the revised EHD policy and enrollment agreement, as well as clean and redlined versions of the operating handbook for CAF Programs.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If the requested action is not approved, the County will be out of compliance with Penal Code sections 1203.016 and 1203.018 regarding the Board’s annual review of the EHD rules, regulations, and administrative policy.