LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors today chose the Probation Department to supervise state parolees instead of the Sheriff's Department.
The board turned down a proposal by the county's chief executive officer to create a hybrid agency that would draw on both departments. The state plans to begin releasing parolees Oct. 1 in jurisdictions where they were prosecuted.
The transfer of thousands of nonviolent parolees to counties is part of Gov. Jerry Brown's effort to shift some state obligations to local governments to save money.
Existing county probation officers were expected to take on the task in 57of 58 counties. But Sheriff Lee Baca argued two weeks ago that his department is already working to reduce recidivism by educating inmates in county jails and could more effectively take on the job of supervising parolees in Los Angeles County.
The board, in turn, asked the county's CEO to come up with a plan for a hybrid agency. That plan was rejected today, and the board put the Chief Probation Officer Donald Blevins in charge, even though his department has yet to develop a detailed plan for dealing with parolees.
The supervisors, required to submit a plan to the state by Sept. 1, pushed Blevins to lay out the details for them no later than Aug. 23.Starting Aug. 15, state prison officials will release packets of information on the people it plans to release.
"The state has made errors in the past and may be sending individuals to us that don't meet the `non, non, non' designation," CEO William Fujioka said. State officials have said only non-violent, non-sex offenders convicted of non-serious crimes would be paroled.
Fujioka urged Blevins to have his probation officers review the parolee information from the state as soon as possible when it is released. Supervisor Michael Antonovich suggested dropping the idea of having a hybrid agency oversee parolees.
"The Probation Department has been providing supervision and rehabilitative services to adult probationers for over a century," Antonovich said. "The department's existing infrastructure and internal expertise renders it the most suitable county agency to assume the responsibility."
The amendment would allow sheriff's deputies to work with probation officers only to identify and arrest wanted parolees. Sheriff Lee Baca said he would continue to keep the public safe from high-risk parolees. "I'm not going to ask the chief probation officer's permission, I'm just going to do it."
He also said he felt Blevins "looks upon me and my department as some kind of threat to the traditions of rehabilitation." He accused Blevins of failing to cooperate and talking behind Baca's back. Baca took his own shot at the probation chief's ability to meet deadlines, saying, "in my organization...when we say we have an emergency, that is in fact what it is."
On Thursday, union leaders representing the majority of Los Angeles County probation officers delivered a letter with a "no confidence" vote to Blevins, contending that the department is in danger of violating its agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding oversight of juvenile probationers.
Two weeks ago, Supervisor Gloria Molina also raised concerns about progress on the Department of Justice agreement and said she was concerned about giving more work to a department that was already overloaded. The board unanimously agreed in a 5-0 vote to have the Probation Department take the lead.
No comments:
Post a Comment