Agenda 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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9 Commissioner Jacobs said he is confused by this conversation, because the Justice 1 Advisory Council has been talking about the supplemental services being in the building for a 2 long time. He said there were two different answers as to whether there is money in the 3 building for those services. He said he thought this was decided a long time ago. He asked if 4 it is or is not in the cost of the building. 5 Travis Myren said all of the support services are in the facility, but the Sheriff is talking 6 about building unsecured spaces in the facility, to serve clients who would never have reason 7 to be booked into the jail, or be held in a secure setting. He said the Sheriff is talking about 8 adding a section to the building for a non-secure space for people experiencing a mental 9 health issue, or someone who is extremely intoxicated, to receive a rapid turn around of 10 services/hand off to an appropriate service provider. 11 Commissioner Jacobs asked if this is opposed to receiving psychiatric or social 12 services within the jail. 13 Chair Dorosin said the social and mental health services for incarcerated inmates are 14 part of the plan in place, as supported by the plans of the Justice Advisory Council. He said 15 this idea of unsecured spaces would be more of a respite service, and it is not in the current 16 budget. 17 Commissioner Rich asked if there is a way to build the new detention center within the 18 current budgetary parameters. 19 Sheriff Blackwood said this is a question for the design team, now that the site location 20 has been secured. He said there has been no decision made about what the building will look 21 like, and thus bed numbers are not final at this time, but going under 144 beds would be a 22 horrible mistake. 23 Bonnie Hammersley said she supports the Sheriff regarding design, but there are other 24 flex spaces throughout the facility. She said as the designer looks at this, there may be an 25 opportunity to create the unsecured/respite space. She said the cost that she is 26 recommending will get a 144-bed facility. 27 Commissioner McKee said he highly endorses the idea of going with the additional 28 respite services, and would recommend shifting monies for the parks office space to fulfill this 29 need. 30 Commissioner Jacobs asked if the federal prisoners fit into the calculus. 31 Sheriff Blackwood said before the price change occurred, this was possibly going to be 32 pulled off the table; but the numbers coming up make this a topic for additional discussion. He 33 said his position is as long as it is beneficial to Orange County first, and to the Marshal service 34 second, then it is worthy. He said this can be a worthwhile partnership for the County to have, 35 and he would encourage the BOCC having a discussion about it. He said he will follow the will 36 of the Board, but he believes the County’s involvement with Federal Marshal service is a good 37 thing right now. 38 Chair Dorosin asked Bonnie Hammersley if the BOCC will have these conversations 39 about the number of beds in the facility, partnering with the Marshal Service, etc. 40 Bonnie Hammersley said these conversations should take place now. She said her 41 recommendation for the 144 beds was made with the understanding that as the need grows 42 locally, then the federal inmates would slowly go down. She said the current average daily 43 population is 126, with less than half being federal inmates. She said she thought the 144-bed 44 discussion had been held, because a designer was hired, and he has done most of the design 45 work . She said the original site was lost, but she did not think this changed the desired 46 number of beds. She said the only time she would expect expansion is when the number of 47 local inmates exceeds 144. She said she does not see this number getting that high for a long 48 time, due to the focused efforts of the Criminal Justice Resource Department and other 49 partners. 50