KORBER Courtroom Unlike Any Other Santa Clara County’s Parolee Reentry Court is a Case Study in Reducing Prison

8/6/2019 KORBER Courtroom Unlike Any Other Santa Clara Countys Parolee Reentry Court is a Case Study in Reducing Prison

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A CourtroomUnlike Any OtherSanta Clara Countys

Parolee Reentry Court is

a Case Study in Reducing

Prison Recidivism

Caliornia Senate Ofce o

Oversight and Outcomes

John Adkisson

John Hill

Dorothy Korber

Nancy Vogel

A report prepared for the California Senate RulesCommittee

june 1, 2011

Prepared by Dorothy Korber


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june 1, 2011

Prepared by Dorothy Korber


Oversight and Outcomes

A Courtroom

Unlike Any OtherSanta Clara Countys

Parolee Reentry Court is

a Case Study in Reducing

Prison Recidivism


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Oversight and OutcomesJune 1, 2011

Introduction

The judge ran through his aternoon calendar at a sprinters pace. Morethan 50 cases cycled through the court in three hours all o themparolees with a violation. Dirty drug tests. Missed appointments. Newcrimes. Such lapses normally would have sent them straight back tostate prison. But today, instead o a prison cell, they are in Judge StephenManleys crowded, bustling San Jose courtroom.

This is Santa Clara Countys Parolee Reentry Court, where high-riskoenders get a second chance at redemption. I it works, everybody wins:the parolee rebuilds his lie, his community is saer, and taxpayers save thethousands o dollars it would cost to return him to prison. I it ails, he is

one more statistic in Caliornias dismal recidivism rate.

Caliornia has the worst record in the nation or re-incarcerating parolees,with nearly 70 percent returning to prison within three years o release.

Caliornia epitomizes revolving door justice in the United States,according to criminology proessor Joan Petersilia. To address this problem,in 2009 the Legislature passed Senate Bill x3 18, which created a pilotprogram testing whether a drug-court model can reduce recidivism.Santa Clara is one o six counties participating in the pilot.

The aim o these Parolee Reentry Courts is to stop the swinging prison

door. So ar, its working.

Now Judge Manley wants to bring the program to every county in thestate as part o Governor Jerry Browns plan to restructure public saety inCaliornia. The governor aims to shit responsibility or parole violations tolocal jurisdictions, with courts making parole revocation decisions. In act,the policy o turning parole violators over to judges is already in statuteunderAssembly Bill 109, a budget bill Brown signed into law on April 4, 2011.

Manley says the mechanism to achieve Browns goal is the Parolee ReentryCourt. The judge suggests taking the collaborative drug courts that

operate in 56 Caliornia counties and turning them into parolee courts.The state Board o Parole Hearings would be deeply downsized andmost o its $200 million budget diverted to these Reentry Courts. Othermillions saved by stopping the revolving door would be plowed back intolocal treatment programs and job training.

The savings could be immense. In 2009, 27,000 parole violators werereturned to state prison and then re-paroled ater serving three months orless. Collectively those 27,000 re-incarcerated parolees cost taxpayers about$1.69 million or each day they were back in prison.


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The court

As Manleys court calendar or March 21 progressed, a parolee with a canetook a seat at the deendants table. The judge looked up rom a thick leand said, Robert, Robert, Robert: Are you working on honesty?I understand you tried to put one past Miss Pastor, your parole agent.

Robert hung his head and the judge continued: Weve got to stop thesenegative drug tests. You need to be honest, to do something about theproblem. Heres the key: Tell the truth. And stay away rom people who usecocaine. Are you clean now? Well nd out, so tell me truthully.

Im clean.

The judge led a round o applause and instructed the parolee to enter aspecic substance abuse treatment program, to be honest about his drugtests, to tell his agent i he is dirty so the level o treatment could beadjusted, to attend meetings regularly and to bring proo o attendancewhen he returned to court April 18.

Others trooped through. Manley dealt with a orged light-rail ticket, anew dui, a homeless parolee whose agent cant nd him because helives outdoors. A ew were remanded to county jail or a time out or achance to dry out. At the end o the day, arrest warrants were issued or

the handul o parolees who ailed to show up. But most were encouraged,applauded and told to return to court in our weeks.

Some spoke candidly o their emotional problems.

Roger, youve been eeling depressed? Manley asked a middle-aged parolee.

Yes, sir. And stressed.

Youve had a relapse?

Hey, Judge youre well-inormed! Yes, sir. Lie became overwhelming.Paying bills Im spread too thin.

The judge, a grandatherly gure with silver hair and a black eye patch,gave him a pep talk. Showing up or lie can be overwhelming. You arenot in prison, where everybody runs your lie or you. Maybe we can helpyou through this.

The judges philosophy is echoed in the words o poet W. E. Henley,posted on the courtroom wall:


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It matters not how strait the gate,How charged with punishments the scroll.I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

Earlier, at the start o the March 21 session, Manley addressed the new-comers to Parolee Reentry Court.

This courtroom is unlike any other, he said. Every one o you knows thereason you were sent here was an alternative to being sent back to prison.This program is about your lie about you. It may take a long time, butthis is not about how quick you accomplish something. I want you to dowell. I dont know i any one else does. What I want is one thing only or you to succeed You have to do the work, but I can help. Believe inyoursel keep ghting!

Manley also spoke to the parolees about honesty. People have beenlying to me or 25 or 30 years, the judge said. I have listened to every lieimaginable. Ater all these years, its rereshing to hear the truth. Peoplewho are honest with me, they get out o jail.

Almost all the parolees in Reentry Court are drug abusers; three-ourthsare mentally ill, with diagnoses including schizophrenia and bipolardisorder. At the start o the program, 85 percent o them were homeless.Their post-prison lives are chaotic, and their struggle to stay o illegaldrugs is constant. Follow-through is not their strong suit. For that, theynd support in Judge Manleys Department 64.

The judge

Manley is the leader o a teamo a dozen people attorneys,psychologists, medical doctors, paroleagents and probation ocers whowork together to help these parolees

stay o drugs and out o prison.Santa Clara Superior Court is apioneer in such collaborative courts,operating special sessions or veterans,the mentally ill, and drug abusers.Manley initiated the Parolee ReentryCourt here three years ago, giving histeam a running start when sbx3 18spilot program started up in 2010.Judge Stephen Manley


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In its rst three years, Santa Clara Countys Parolee Reentry Court boastsa success rate o about 80 percent with 20 percent reincarcerated by thestate. Under the states Board o Parole Hearings, 100 percent would have

been back in state prison.

Ater the days calendar was done, Manley took o his judicial robes andsat in his chambers, talking about the Reentry Court and why he thinks itcould work across the state to reduce prison recidivism.

Our 80 percent completion rate is a result o sticking with people overtime, he said. I talk about managing people rather than sentencing them.I have a simple view: You need to motivate people to change. Its not aget-out-o-jail-ree card with no accountability they spend time in thetreatment programs, they do time in jail i they screw up.

Eventually, he acknowledges, there will be ailures: With some o them,you just cant win they are great manipulators and great akers. But, iyou use this model, overall you will reduce recidivism and you will savethe taxpayers money. It really does work.

Not every state parolee requires such intensive management, Manley said.He gures that roughly 20 percent o parolees will go back to prison nomatter what, 20 percent will do just ne anyway, 40 percent will makegradual progress on their own.

The remaining 20 percent the high-risk, high-need group are theones who can prot rom this. This method works best with the hard core.

We are patient with them, we know there will be some relapses, but we tellthem that their showing up is more important to us than their screwingup. We applaud their successes and we pay attention to them. For most othem, its the rst time anyone has paid attention to them.

The team

Parolee Reentry Court is a spino o the drug court model, one o

the major successes o the collaborative court movement nationwide.Collaborative courts emphasize a team approach to criminal justiceinstead o the traditional adversarial system, which pits prosecutors againstdeenders under the gavel o an impartial judge.

Cases fow through Manleys court with such speed and success becausehe has assembled a dedicated and creative team. Manley is quick togive them credit; the team credits the man at the helm.


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The team members took a ew moments rom their hectic schedules totalk about their experiences.

Parole agents Eduardo Rodriguez and Mary Pastor

Parole: Parole agent Mary Pastor, who works or the state correctionsdepartment, has been assigned to Manleys Reentry Court since April 2008.She remembers being puzzled by her rst days in the collaborative setting.

I thought, What in the world? What does this judge want rom me? saidthe seasoned parole agent. What is it with the clapping and singing happybirthday to parolees? But it quickly became clear that the approach works.

For the parolees, the act that this is a judge is important. Parolees whowould cuss at us parole agents who would scream at us react dierentlywhen its a judge theyre talking to. They listen to him and it means a lotto them that he listens to them. It helps the guys to know that theyre notalone but there are consequences i they screw up.

These are people with a case le three inches thick. We have triedeverything with them. Say its a meth user one dirty drug test, andnormally wed lock them back up. But it doesnt make sense to lockeveryone up.

Pastor said she specically asked other parole agents to give her theirhardest cases those parolees with the three-inch-thick les. Why wouldshe tackle this challenge?


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Well, she said, I guess its the cheesy sentiment i I can help oneperson, that means something to me. Here, I can help.

Another parole agent, Eduardo Rodriguez, handles the parolee caseloador Manleys mental health court and also attends Parolee Reentry Court.Rodriguez said he and Pastor can provide insight into parolees lives thatno one else has. We know these people weve been to their houses at 6a.m., Rodriguez said. Were on the ront lines, and we see the challengesthey ace. We have a good rapport with them, and we can give the judgethe inormation he needs to make decisions about them.

Probation: Probation ocers are the county counterpart to state paroleagents. Santa Clara County has a special unit o eight probation ocerswhose clients are diagnosed as mentally ill. These probation ocers ask tohave their clients assigned to Manleys Department 64, said Sallie Jensen,a member o the mental health unit.

Our clients are people who have been tossed out o society, Jensen said.Some have severe schizophrenia, a huge number are bipolar, many areparanoid. They use illegal drugs to help them cope with the symptoms otheir mental illness. Judge Manley gets that. His knowledge is phenomenal.

It takes awhile or these clients to trust us and to trust the judge. I tellthem: This court is a unique opportunity. This is another chance or you maybe your last chance. One thing I learned rom Judge Manley is notto give up hope. Sometimes, when you think there is no hope or someone,amazing things can happen and they turn their lie around.

Public deender: Santa ClaraCounty public deender JennierHultgren has worked in dierentcapacities with Judge Manleyscollaborative courts or the pastve years. In Reentry Court, sherepresents state parolees who arealso on county probation or whoare charged with a new crime. Sheassures that her clients rights areprotected and helps them understandthe Reentry Court process.

Here, you take the advocacy hat oa little bit, she said. Judge Manleymakes it less combative. Its much morea treatment-oriented atmosphere.Public Deender Jennier Hultgren


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This style isnt or all the attorneys in my oce, but i I could get everyclient in this courtroom, I would.

The parolee clients are oten tripped up by simple activities navigatingthe city, signing up or services, remembering appointments.

This is a population by and large that doesnt ollow through, she said.Its so, so hard or them to handle daily lie. But they learn that they cancome here and its easy to check in to get help to make progress. I wecan make these people be more productive, it benets all o us. Theresnothing more tragic than writing people o.

Hultgren had generous praise or the judge and also or parole agentsPastor and Rodriguez. Those two parole agents are amazing, the publicdeender said. Youve got to buy into this collaborative system and itwas hard or them at the beginning. Its probably still hard or themamong their peers, to seem sot. But having the parole agent right in thecourtroom is absolutely indispensable.

Prosecutor: A deputy district attorney, George Chadwick, is also on theReentry Court team. Like Hultgren, he deals with parolees who are oncounty probation or ace new charges. But, as a prosecutor, he views theprocess rom another angle: consequences. One o his roles is to protectthe rights o any victims and the community at large by seeing thatparolees are held accountable or their behavior.

Consequences are important consequences really matter, he said.I someonefails this program, they get slammed pretty hard. But thereisnt much o a consequence or using illegal drugs, and that does concernme. One guy Judge Manley heard on yesterdays reentry calendar wouldhave been sentenced to 12 months in prison in another court.

This is the nal stop beore prison, and these are tough cases. Whensomeones sent here, the point is nothing else is working. These are peoplewho need a lot o help, and Judge Manleys going to cut them some slack.Kicking them out o Parolee Reentry Court would be an admission o utterailure. Thats a hard step or the court to take. So I guess well see.This is a work in progress.

Psychologists: Susan Sidel and Carol Matzas are therapists with theReentry Courts Mental Health Assessment Team. In addition to screeningclients or mental illness, they also coordinate their psychiatric treatment,medications, housing, drug treatment, education, job training and benets.

Sidel has worked alongside Judge Manley or eleven years, Matzas


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or three. They both said thecollaborative approach works.

The judge is this good-guy gure,this grandather gure that the clientslisten to, Sidel said. The judge saysto them: I you need help, come here.

Well help you. The clients see thatin this court, the people in the systemwho are usually against you thejudge, the parole agent are or you.

They get positive reinorcement oreverything its positive, positive,positive. For these olks, this is

Psychologist Carol Matzas something theyve never had beore.Until they learn to believe in

themselves, Judge Manley will believe in them.

Matzas, who worked in a clinic beore coming to the courthouse, saidshe is impressed by the array o services available here rom prescriptionmedicine to advice on ling or Social Security. I see people at this courtgetting more support than a clinic could ever provide, she said. You geta whole umbrella o services here.

Sometimes, though, the program doesnt work some parolees just dontrespond. Those are the 20 percent that Manley and his team cant reach.

The hardest part or me, is that I hate to see anybody go to prison, Matzassaid. But, when weve tried everything, thats the reality. We have toconsider the saety o the community.

Sidel agreed: Nobodys going to put the public in peril.

From a parolees perspective

Parolee Eric Washingtons initial impression o Stephen Manley was nota good one. The rst time I saw Judge Manley, he said, just one wordcame to mind. Clown. The sel-described street thug didnt realize thathed nally met his match.

Washingtons court le was even thicker than most, with 52 convictions,hal o them elonies. And that was just the convictions, he said. It doesntcount all the charges I got out o. He was tough, earless and violent his criminal record includes nine assaults on police ocers. He said he


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agreed to participate in Manleys drug court or one simple reason: to getback on the street so he could get high.

In an interview recently, Washington recounted the history that broughthim to Manleys Department 64.

I was a Marine Corps vet, divorced, estranged rom my kids, in and out ostate prison or two decades, a street thug. I identied with my violent side.I was a regulator an enorcer or drug dealers. All o my criminal recordrevolved around drugs and drug use. Cocaine rst, then I got into meth.It became my drug o choice.

The only thing that bothered me about going to jail or prison was thatI wouldnt be able to be high. Even my mom gave up hope o me evergetting my lie on track. Her best hope was or me to stay locked up inprison at least Id be alive.

Twice, he managed to evade a third-strike conviction, saved by his eight-year military record. Finally, though, it looked like hed reached the end.For the third time, he aced his third strike and a lie sentence.

The bottom line was, they came to me one day and said, Well give youone last chance. Youll go to Judge Manleys drug court. Frankly, I just sawit as another chance at the street. It hadnt hit home to me how dire mysituation was.

The scene in the collaborative court beuddled him.

Id never been in an environment where people wanted to help me. It wasan alien environment. The judge was talking to everybody and me too.He was looking at me looking up, talking to everybody, animated, thenlooking at me again. No judge had ever looked at me beore just at thelawyers and my paperwork, never at me.

I think it was the third time I went to Judge Manleys court, that I realizedthat he was dealing with me as an individual. It was the rst time I elt thatanyone above public deender was going to do anything or me.

Far rom a clown, he began to appreciate Manley as a savvy and practicalmentor.

With my years in the system, Washington said, I couldnt help but seehow nave a lot o the judges, prosecutors and public deenders are. Theyare people with lives and amilies and bank accounts. I was this drug useron the streets whose only possession was a backpack. My parole agent,


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Mary Pastor, has empathy she likes me a lot but even she is basicallybafed by me.

But I think Manley gets it he doesnt look at the why. There is no sanewhy about this drug liestyle. He lays out the baby steps: Do this onesimple thing. Do this and you can be ree again. He would lay out whatwas expected hed give you a ew chances. He got me to realize hey,I can have a job. I can have a bank account. One thing I also started tounderstand was that you cant bullshit him.

Washington hit a turning point with the death o his 17-year-old son, whowas involved in drugs and street gangs himsel. With Manleys guidance now in the judges collaborative court or veterans Washington entereda residential drug treatment program.

I stayed 52 days. Then I spent three months in another program. I didall my out-patient programs. I stayed clean. I ound a place to live with ariend. I started getting work, then more work, then more. Today, at age 51,the ormer street thug is working three dierent jobs.

In Washingtons long history in the criminal justice system, he says thecollaborative spirit in Manleys court was unique.

In his courtroom, there wasnt a battle o the lawyers. It wasnt combativeor threatening. Everybody was on the same team. Mental health peoplewere readily available. Everyone there saw the big picture. Everybody therewas trying to get me ree. I cant say it was any one thing that made thedierence, but it was everything. Im a ree man now I sometimes cantbelieve it. I never saw mysel getting out o the system.

The proposal

When Governor Brown revealed his 2011-12 budget in January, he includedwhat he characterized as a vast and historic plan to restructure publicsaety in Caliornia. A major element o this plan is the realignment o

parole rom state control to the counties. As part o this realignment,the governor aims to shit the responsibility or parole violations to localjurisdictions, with judges making all parole revocation decisions.

The policy o turning parole violators over to the courts is already in statuteunderab 109, a budget bill Brown signed into law on April 4, 2011.

Judge Manley believes the Parolee Reentry Court model is one way toachieve this. He notes that Reentry Courts exist on a pilot basis in six


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Caliornia counties: Alameda, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco,San Joaquin, and Santa Clara. The next step, he suggests, is to expand themodel statewide. He proposes taking the collaborative drug courts that are

already running in 56 Caliornia counties and turning them into ParoleeReentry Courts. The state Board o Parole Hearings would be greatly down-sized, and most o its $200 million budget turned over to the local level.

This model reduces recidivism and it saves money, Manley said. Tellthe judges: The drug court model works. Give them a little money toincentivize them some o that money the state saves by not sendingeveryone back to prison. Then measure the outcomes. I it doesnt measureup, the state can take it back. We judges are already the gatekeepers andthe saety net. You can blame corrections or parole or our overcrowdedprisons but you cannot get to prison without a judge.

The desired outcome would be a reduction in the number o paroleviolators sent back to prison each year. In 2009, 27,000 parole violatorswere returned to custody and then re-paroled ater serving three months orless in state prison. Based on a daily cost per inmate o $62.48, collectivelythose 27,000 re-incarcerated parolees cost taxpayers about $1.69 million oreach day they were back in prison.

The Reentry Court model was also endorsed in an April 2011 report bya task orce o the Judicial Council o Caliornia. The report calls orcreating specialized calendars or parolees and probationers in everyjurisdiction in the state. Reentry Courts show promise as a strategy tomaintain parolees in the community and avoid return to prison or jail,according to the report.

But can Judge Manleys signature style and good results be translatedto county courthouses across Caliornia? Asked this question, his teammembers considered their answers careully.

One thing to keep in mind is that this is probably the best treatment courtin the country, responded George Chadwick, the deputy da. We havetremendous resources. Were spoiled by it here in Santa Clara County.

We have psychologists sitting in the courtroom, doctors in the building,really good deense attorneys, mental-health probation ocers and a judgewho is on top o everything. In a county without those resources and withan unsophisticated judge, how would it work?

One thing that might help the smaller counties would be to concentrateon lower-level oenders. We see some o the most dangerous probationersin our county here in this court. In many other counties, youd need tobe more selective about the parolees. You wouldnt want the worst o the


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worst. I think the best screening would be to let Parole decide who couldparticipate. They are not going to send a monster to a county without anyresources.

Parole agent Edward Rodriguez agrees. For Reentry Court to besuccessul, we need to send the right people here people who are likelyto benet rom it. And there is a certain population we need to screen out.The chronic absconders and the hardest-core criminals cant come here.Mary Pastor, his parole agent colleague, thinks Parolee Reentry Courts canbe replicated across the state and should be. It would be a good modelstatewide, and this court can show the way. Its totally doable elsewhere.I this is what we need to do to reduce recidivism, then lets do it.

Several team members talked about the importance o the judge in anycollaborative court.

Certain judges will never embrace this, said public deender JennierHultgren. But I think, in every county, there will be judges who are rightor it. And thats a good thing on a number o ronts. The revolving door isso expensive its just throwing money away.

Judge Manley is an amazing orce, said psychologist Susan Sidel. Whenhe sees something is needed, he says, Lets do it. And its done. But Ithink this court could be replicated in other places i they came andwatched how he handles things here. Remember that judges are lawyersand politicians. For depleted counties, maybe a savvy judge could gainbuy-in rom mental health and law enorcement by saying: Lets stay afoattogether. In the end, everybody benets and money is saved.

Psychologist Carol Matzas said other counties should be encouraged tovisit Santa Clara County, observe the process, and ask lots questions oeveryone on the Reentry Court team.

There are probably plenty o judges and district attorneys in Caliorniawho care about this population, Matzas said. Judge Manley is unique, itstrue but basically, i you get a judge with a heart, thats whats needed.

The word heart was also used by ormer parolee Eric Washington whenasked how Manleys courtroom could be recreated in other jurisdictions.

Truthully, its hard to visualize the reentry program without JudgeManley, Washington said. I cant say there arent more Judge Manleysout there, but my whole time in the system, I never saw another one.

You dont have to duplicate him but you do need to have a judge witha sincere heart.


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Views rom other counties

Judge Manley is the rock star o this stu, said Judge Richard Vlavianosin his testimony beore the Little Hoover Commission on March 24.

We all wish we could grow up to be Steve Manley someday.

Vlavianos, a Superior Court judge in San Joaquin County, was respondingto a commissioner who had just quoted Manley on the high relapse rateamong drug abusers. The commissions hearing ocused on reorm o theparole system, and Vlavianos was there to talk about his own Reentry Court.

San Joaquin Countys Parolee Reentry Court, one o the six pilots set upunder sbx3 18, has been running since October. Vlavianos supports

Manleys proposal to set up collaborative courts or parolees statewide ithe courts are given sucient money to do it. Vlavianos recommends thatthe Legislature create a collaborative Community Corrections Court ineach county with exclusive jurisdiction over parole and probation violations.

In an interview, Vlavianos talked abouthow his experiences in the Stocktoncourthouse compare with Manleys

dream team setup in San Jose.

We dont have psychologists or

psychiatrists who work or the court,but we do get the people who runthe treatment programs there in thecourtroom, the judge said. Wehave two parole agents and a parolesupervisor. The District Attorneychooses not to participate in mycounty neither does the publicdeenders oce. So, what Ive done is

Judge Richard Vlavianos cut a deal with our local law school their students do the public deender

duties, under the supervision o an attorney. I want to make sure I havesomeone there or the deendant the parolee.

Whatever the composition o the team, Vlavianos said one component iskey: The right judge.

You need a personality type who can convey to the client that he or shesincerely cares about the clients success, he said. Theres somethingabout a judge that is completely dierent rom the other authority guresin a parolees lie. The judge has that perceived parental role, in terms o


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drawing lines o permissible conduct, or in patting people on the back.He concedes that not every county will necessarily have a judge who iswilling or able to ll that role.

A small county with only a couple o judges may not have someonewho ts the bill, he said. But a way around that is to give counties thefexibility to use a judicial ocer a reereeinstead o a Superior Courtjudge. As long as counties have the statutory authority to do this, they cansta it with better-personality types and lower-cost types.

In San Joaquin County, according to Vlavianos, Parolee Reentry Court isworking. He gures its saved the taxpayers millions o dollars already.

I have 135 parolees in my Reentry Court or that caseload I spend oneaternoon a week, he said. Seven months into it, not one has gone backto prison on a parole revocation. Three have been reincarcerated on newoences. So Im at a 3 percent recidivism rate. Think how much I couldaccomplish i I did this ull-time!

He said all six pilot courts are experiencing similar results.

Anyone who participates in this process loves it, Vlavianos said. Itscontagious. Our parolees are telling other parolees on the run to turnthemselves in. You can see the change in the deendants, once youestablish trust with them. The light just goes on.

Not everyone, however, is a convert.

Edward Busuttil is the Assistant District Attorney or San Joaquin County.Asked why his oce chose to opt out o the Reentry Court pilot, he gavetwo reasons: Not enough money. Not enough consequences.

This pilot program came during a kind o a perect storm in San JoaquinCounty, Busuttil said. Were laying o attorneys the last thing weneed is another calendar or courtroom to sta. Its bad timing maybe ithis was 2004 we might have been a little more open to it. Even i we hadthe sta, though, our overall philosophy is that we dont want the ReentryCourt to become a plea-negotiation chip. Our position is this: You violateparole, then you do your time in state prison, and not in one o thesecoddle courts.

Asked what it would take to get prosecutors to buy into the Reentry Courtprocess, Busuttil said it would take dollars: Money would be necessary we wouldnt mind some trickle-down money. I the state wants to buy us aperson to sit in there and make objections, okay.


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Bonnie Dumanis was talking about this kind o mindset when she toldthe Little Hoover Commission: das are a eisty group. She speaks romexperience; Dumanis is the district attorney o San Diego County. She

testied along with Judge Vlavianos at the commissions March 24 hearing.

Dumanis described San DiegoCountys successul oender reentryprogram, including its own ParoleeReentry Court. She said that sincethe pilot Reentry Court began onJan. 10, 2011, it had already elded 40participants.

Based on the stayed prison sentenceso the participants deerred romprison and into the Reentry CourtProgram, the (state) Department oCorrections has avoided over 100years o prison time or these 40participants, according to her written

San Diego County District testimony.Attorney Bonnie Dumanis

I am passionate about this, thedistrict attorney told the commissioners. Responding to their questions,Dumanis said she is in avor o realigning parole supervision to the counties.I support the idea that we locals can do it better, i we have the money,she said. Asked what else the counties needed, she replied: The answer is,only money. We have all the tools to do the job. What we need is money toget our probation ocers up to speed and to get the programs up to speed.

She said shed put the money into mental health and substance abuseprograms and into vocational training as well as hiring additionalprosecutors and public deenders or the increased caseload.

Remember, she said, one way or another, this is a population that comesback to us anyway. This is a group that recidivates. For law enorcement,we see these people every day. We get them the way they are, and we knowthey need help. The biggest mental-health provider in San Diego Countyis the jail. I believe that the more participants you have in the reentryprogram, the more ecient and cost eective it will be.


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Superior Court of

California, County of

COMMUNITY

DRUG-ADULT

DRUG-JUVENILE

DELINQUENCY

DRUG-DEPENDENCY

DUI

ELDER

HOMELESS/

STAND-DOWN

MENTALHEALTH-

ADULT

MENTALHEALTH-

JUVENILE

REENTRY

TRUANCY

VETERANS

YOUTH/PEER

Alameda

X X X X X X X X X

Alpine Amador

X X X

Butte

X X X X X

Calaveras

X X

Colusa

X

Contra Costa X X X X X X

Del Norte

X X

El Dorado

X X X X X X

Fresno

X X X X X X X

Glenn

X X X

Humboldt X X X X X XImperial

X

Inyo

X

Kern

X X X X X

Kings

X

Lake

X X X

Lassen

X X

Los Angeles

X X X X X X X X X

Madera

X X

Marin

X X X X

Mariposa

X

Mendocino X X X X

Merced

X X X

Modoc

X X X X

Mono

Monterey

X X X X

Napa

X X X X X

Caliornia Counties with

Collaborative Justice Courts

Source: Administrative Oce o the Courts. April 2011.


19/22



1

Superior Court of

California, County of

COMMUNITY

DRUG-ADULT

DRUG-JUVENILE

DELINQUENCY

DRUG-DEPENDENCY

DUI

ELDER

HOMELESS/

STAND-DOWN

MENTALHEALTH-

ADULT

MENTALHEALTH-

JUVENILE

REENTRY

TRUANCY

VETERANS

YOUTH/PEER

Nevada

X X X X X

Orange X X X X X X X X X X

Placer X X X X X X

Plumas

X

Riverside

X X X X

Sacramento

X X X X X X

San Benito

X

San Bernardino

X X X X X X X X

San Diego

X X X X X X X X X

San Francisco X X X X X X X X X

San Joaquin

X X X X X X X X X X

San Luis Obispo

X X X X

San Mateo

X X X

Santa Barbara

X X X X X

Santa Clara

X X X X X X X X X

Santa Cruz

X X X

Shasta

X X X

Sierra

X X

Siskiyou

X X X

Solano

X X X X

Sonoma

X X X X X X X X X

Stanislaus

X X X X

Sutter XTehama

X X X

Trinity

X

Tulare

X X X X X

Tuolumne

X X X

Ventura

X X X X X X X

Yolo

X X X

Yuba X

Caliornia Counties with

Collaborative Justice Courts (continued)


20/22


21/22

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