Jails Commission Members Endorse a Sheriff’s Candidate….A New Candidate for Sheriff…the LASD is Sloppy With Money….& More

MEMBERS OF CITIZENS COMMISSION ON JAIL VIOLENCE TO ENDORSE JIM MCDONNELL FOR SHERIFF

Executive Director, Miriam Krinsky and members of the Los Angeles Citizens’ Commission on Jail Violence (CCJV) will hold a 9:30 AM press conference Friday to announce their unanimous endorsement of commission member and Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell in his race for LA County Sheriff.

(The commission members make this endorsement of McDonnell as private citizens.)

The press conference will take place on the Temple Street steps in front of the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration

More on the endorsement later.

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ASSISTANT SHERIFF JAMES HELLMOLD TO THROW HAT INTO SHERIFF’S RACE WITH BACA’S BLESSING

Soon there will be two working assistant sheriffs running for the office of LA County Sheriff. CBS-2 news has the story. Here’s a clip:

In his first television interview since his announcement, Hellmold, who started his 25-year law enforcement career as an aide to Baca, told KCAL9’s Dave Bryan that he can see clearly what the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department needs.

“I have a vision for the sheriff’s department to modernize its patrol and detective resources with the emergence of advanced technology and cyber-crime. The sheriff’s department needs to be a modern policing agency with the technical skills, the equipment,” he said.
When Hellmold was asked about running for sheriff last week, he said he was a crime fighter, not a politician. He said he’s now ready to run.

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SHERIFFS DEPARTMENT TOOK UNCLAIMED FUNDS BELONGING TO RELEASED INMATES

A report released by the LA County Auditor-Controller on Thursday revealed a list of sloppy accounting practices by the LA County Sheriff’s Department when it comes to certain restricted funds that have been under the department’s fiscal control.

The LASD’s handling of so-called unclaimed funds was among the most startling of the discoveries.

The Daily News’ Christina Villacourt has more on the story. Here’s a clip:

The Sheriff’s Department took $1.6 million ­— most of belonging to released inmates — instead of directing it to the appropriate county agency, according to a report released Thursday by the county Auditor-Controller.

A spokesman for Sheriff Lee Baca, Steve Whitmore tried to downplay the problem, saying it was “more about accounting than anything else.”

He vowed, however, that the department would correct the problem.

In her report, Auditor-Controller Wendy Watanabe said, “We noted that the Sheriff’s inappropriately transferred approximately $1.6 million in unclaimed funds into their operating revenue over a two-year period.”

To read the entire report yourself click here: 2014-01-16 Sheriff’s Department – Special Funds, Trust Funds, and Accruals Review

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AFFORDABLE CARE ACT MAY HELP INMATES LOWER RECIDIVISM RATES

Two-thirds of the 730,000 prison inmates released into American communities each year have substance abuse or mental health problems. But, although research and common sense says that many of these men and women need treatment if they are to avoid returning to prison, finding ways to pay for that crucial treatment usually ranges from difficult to impossible—until now.

Vin Beiser has the story, writing for the Atlantic. Here’s a clip:

Ron Sanders may hold the record for the fastest round trip from and back into jail. Released after a year in a San Francisco county lockup—just one in a series of drug-related sentences he’d served over the years—he headed right back to the streets he knew best. “Four hours after I got out, I got me a 40 [ounce bottle of malt liquor] and a rock of crack,” says Sanders, a wiry African American man with a scar on his forehead and a pair of spotless Nikes on his feet. “Then I turned around, and there was a cop right behind me.” He was back behind bars before the day was over.

Slightly slower-paced versions of Sanders’ story play out every day all across the country. An astonishing two-thirds of the 730,000 men and women released from America’s lockups each year have either substance abuse problems, mental health problems, or both. Very often, those problems were largely responsible for getting them locked up in the first place. Most addicted and mentally ill prisoners receive little or no effective treatment while they’re incarcerated or after they’re turned loose, so it’s little surprise that, like Sanders, they soon wind up back in jail. But for some, that revolving door may stop spinning this year, thanks to a little-noticed side-effect of President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Obamacare, it turns out, might be a crime-fighting tool.

[SNIP]

Providing treatment to those former prisoners could yield enormous benefits for all of us. The average cost to incarcerate someone for a year is roughly $25,000. That means if only one percent of each year’s released inmates stay out of trouble, taxpayers will save nearly $200 million annually—and the pool of troubled ex-cons looking to steal your car stereo will be that much smaller. “Success in implementing the Affordable Care Act has the potential to decrease crime, recidivism, and criminal justice costs, while simultaneously improving the health and safety of communities,” sums up a recent report by the federal Department of Justice.