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Alameda County

Jail Population Teach-In

Decarcerate Alameda County

February 10, 2021 General Meeting

You have questions? Put them in the zoom chat!

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Training Overview

Decarcerate Alameda County’s Goals
Jail Population Teach In

Who is in our jails?

Demographics - age, gender, race (tash)
Arrest and Sentencing rates (tash)
Mental health (tash & john)
Leased beds to federal prisoners (john)

Acknowledge the relationship of incarceration between the state and county (danny/John)

Send data points in srj calls

Current & potential decarceration strategies

COVID releases (DAC)
Mental health services and decarceration (DAC)
Ending federal contract (no one)
DA Accountability (JRC)

Diversion
Zero Bail schedule/Pre-trial
Enhancements

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Today’s Focus Questions:

What is DAC decarceration goals?
Who is in our county jail?
What are some current and potential decarceration strategies?

* we are only presenting on what we know (based on data that’s accessible)

** there will be time to debrief in breakouts

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DAC Goals

Free People from Santa Rita Jail

We demand the District Attorney, the courts, and the Sheriff decarcerate Santa Rita Jail by 50% by 2022; 75% by 2024.

There are currently 2,100 people in Santa Rita Jail.
There should be no more than 1,050 people at SRJ by 2022 and 525 people at SRJ by 2024.

Divest from Incarceration & Policing By the Sheriff’s Office
Invest in Community Health
Build Community Resilience, Shift Power Away from Law Enforcement

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Source: PRA Request from John Lindsay Poland to ACSO

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Source: http://www.bscc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/Jail-Pop-Trends-Through-Q3-2020.pdf

JPS data as of December 2, 2020. 1 2020 data through third quarter only (January - September)

Alameda County’s Average Daily Jail Population Trend

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Percentage of people in male and female housing units

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How does Alameda County compare to other counties?

Source: http://www.bscc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/Jail-Pop-Trends-Through-Q3-2020.pdf

JPS data as of December 2, 2020. 1 2020 data through third quarter only (January - September)

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Sentenced vs. Non-Sentenced Population

Non-sentenced is another term for pre-trial

Of the 2082 people in Santa Rita Jail in 2020, only 175 people (8%) on average were serving a sentence.

96% of people sitting in Santa Rita in 3rd quarter of 2020 were unsentenced - they are legally innocent.
People with misdemeanors should automatically not be incarcerated

Source: http://www.bscc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/Jail-Pop-Trends-Through-Q3-2020.pdf

JPS data as of December 2, 2020. 1 2020 data through third quarter only (January - September)

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Source: http://www.bscc.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/Jail-Pop-Trends-Through-Q3-2020.pdf

JPS data as of December 2, 2020. 1 2020 data through third quarter only (January - September)

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Length of Stay (LOS)

The average LOS is 30 days for 22,271 people between 2018-2019, above the national average of 23 days.
13,133 people were released within 3 days or less and typically by bail or citation release.
By contrast, for the 9,338 people who do not get out in 3 days, their average LOS is 72 days with the people who are eventually sentenced to state prison having both the longest LOS and occupy the greatest number of beds.

Source: https://rbgg.com/wp-content/uploads/Classification-and-Restrictive-Housing-Report-James-Austin.pdf

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Security Classifications

About 60% of people are in the general population while 40% are in some type of restrictive status which is a relatively high percent
The largest restricted populations are people assigned to Protective Custody (PC), Administrative Separation, Mental Health, and the segregated Sureno Gang statuses
People assigned to these units have significantly longer lengths of stay (well over a year in custody to date).

Source: https://rbgg.com/wp-content/uploads/Classification-and-Restrictive-Housing-Report-James-Austin.pdf

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At least 47 people have died in Alameda County Jail system since 2014

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Source: https://openjustice.doj.ca.gov/exploration/crime-statistics/crimes-clearances

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Renting Out Santa Rita Jail and Sheriff Deputies

~400-500 Federal prisoners in Santa Rita, all unsentenced

Federal govt pays Alameda Co. $54,000/prisoner/year
Actual cost to County: $100,000 to $145,000 per prisoner
Agreement can be severed on 30-day notice
Moves prisoners, doesn’t actually decarcerate

Monterey County prisoners (number unknown)
Some prisoners in SRJ await transfer to CDCR (178 on Jan. 29)

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Mental Health in Alameda County

In FY 2017-2018, 6,616 or 33.8% of Alameda County’s 19,578 behavioral health clients were identified as having been in Santa Rita Jail in the past two years.

Overall, the reentry beneficiaries were more likely to be male, African American, and between the ages of 26 to 43.

Source: ACBH MH Clinical PIP, Reentry Peer Specialist Performance Evaluation, 12/31/2019

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Source: https://rbgg.com/alameda-county-jail/

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Current & Potential Decarceration Strategies

Fight for Emergency COVID releases

On-going
DAC, National Lawyers Guild, SRJ Solidarity, and Civil Rights Attorneys

Decarcerate people with serious mental illness (SMI) and build community capacity

On-going
DAC, FASMI, East Bay Supportive Housing Collaborative, JIMH Taskforce

Ending federal lease beds

People moved from SRJ, but not decarcerated
Supervisor Chan supports

Expand Diversion, Zero Bail/Pre-Trial Release, and Ending Sentencing Enhancements

On-going
Justice Reinvestment Coalition - DA Accountability Campaign (EJ Pavia & Danny Thongsy)

** there could be

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