Blog Sep 25, 2012
Jails, poorhouses, and debtor’s prisons
CJCJ staff writer Selena Teji recently posted a blog called “Overcrowded jails, the bail industry, and pretrial alternatives .” Among other things she notes that many are in jail “simply because they cannot afford to post bail.” In short, it’s a place for the poor. A couple of years ago I posted an article called “From Poorhouses to Jails, Same Function, Different Time ” I began by referring to a book by David Wagner called The Poorhouse: America’s Forgotten Institution . In his book one…
Blog Sep 20, 2012
Report: Senate Bill 678 delivers on its promises
In July the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) released it’s second year report on the effectiveness of Senate Bill 678 , a well-designed piece of legislation sponsored by Senator Mark Leno in 2009. Adapted from a successful model in Arizona , SB 678 created a system of performance-based funding that incentivizes county probation departments to implement and sustain data-driven model practices in adult felony probation supervision. If county probation departments demonstrated…
On Wednesday, September 12, 2012, the San Francisco Police Commission met to discuss a range of issues, including the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD)‘s faulty and problematic system of collecting arrest data. Recently highlighted by the Bay Citizen , San Francisco County is the only county of 58 in California that does not accurately report the arrests of Hispanic residents. CJCJ noted this data limitation in an April 2012 publication documenting a 40+ year pattern of racially…
Last week, religious leaders and community members from Contra Costa County convinced county Sheriff David Livingston to withdraw his proposal for constructing a new 150-bed jail. Working in partnership with the local PICO California affiliate, CCISCO , these grassroots leaders were able to convince law enforcement stakeholders that the $6 million required for a new jail would be better spent on alternatives. A community advisory board recommended redirecting realignment funding into…
This month is the Justice Policy Institute (JPI)‘s Bail Reform Month . Their national public education campaign provides research showing that “money bail is a failed policy that does not protect public safety” and leads to unnecessary incarceration in local jails. If you have been following criminal justice realignment in California, this issue is of foremost importance. In California, approximately 71% of the jail population is unsentenced. Many of the detainees are in detention simply…