Chico >> Local law enforcement leaders, representatives for probation and behavioral health and a criminal defense attorney discussed in a panel on Thursday night criminal justice reform and the intersection of mental health.
In their opening remarks, District Attorney Mike Ramsey and Sheriff Kory Honea referred to Assembly Bill 109 as a “sea change,” both describing more negative than positive effects of the bill.
Signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2011, AB 109 addressed prison overcrowding by placing repeat, nonviolent offenders in county jails as opposed to state prisons.
Ramsey described the Butte County Jail as becoming more like a prison as a result. However, he did say that the prison system realignment allowed the county to experiment more with rehabilitation than could be done in the past. He noted that while rehabilitation works for a large part of the population, there will always be a portion that is beyond help.
Dorian Kittrell, behavioral health director for Butte County, said he felt lucky to be in a county where law enforcement reaches out to behavioral health to collaborate. Though the title of the community forum was “crime, punishment and mental health,” Kittrell offered the view that mental illness was not a big part of the picture.
He said that while the public often sees mentally ill people associated with crime in the media, most families that behavioral health services are not involved with law enforcement.
“Their lives don’t touch that area (of criminal justice),” he said.
Kittrell said that AB 109 had provided the county with opportunities, while Proposition 47 was hampering the county in many ways. The proposition approved by voters in 2014 downgraded some crimes previously considered felonies to misdemeanors.
He voiced excitement about the new mobile crisis team which joined up with Chico police in March and said that next month he would be meeting with the sheriff to discuss plans for an additional mobile crisis unit in the south county.
Kittrell said that 5150 calls were up by 27 percent compared to this time last year and that more psychiatric help was needed in the north state.
Ramsey offered a long list of crimes deemed not violent and not serious under Proposition 47, including: auto theft, auto burglary, second degree commercial burglary, identity theft and more.
“There are real victims out there,” he said.
Ramsey said that people need to fear consequences of breaking the law, illustrating his point with an example of the likelihood that someone would run a stop sign facing a $2 fee versus a $400 fee.
Reed said that while he agreed that some people needed to be locked up, there were other means of punishment and keeping track of people now, like ankle bracelets.
“If we can deal with them without sending them to prison, we’ll be more successful,” Reed said.
Honea said that it may be the most challenging time in modern history to be in the criminal justice profession. For his office, the goal is not just about enforcing the law but also trying to identify and address the underlying causes for someone to commit a crime, the sheriff said.
He said he was proud of his office’s relationship with the behavioral health department, which he can call to have resources sent over and sometimes help de-escalate situations.
Ron Reed, a criminal defense attorney, said that he for one was happy when AB 109 passed.
“For me, it was an exciting time, though I agree it was a challenge,” Reed said. “It was a sea change …. I think in the right way.”
While Ramsey said the state didn’t build enough prisons to help with overcrowding, there were some built, Reed noted. People were getting out of prison worse off than when they went in and something had to give, he said.
“If we do rehabilitate someone, we all win,” Reed said.
Steve Bordin, Butte County’s chief probation officer, said that the criminal justice system has seen major changes over the course of his long career. Bordin, who now oversees about 30 children in Juvenile Hall, said that in 1996 he sent a child to prison for stealing a candy bar.
“I always wonder what happened to that person,” he said.
He spoke a little about the male re-entry program, within which the county assists men coming back to Butte County on parole with things like finding employment and counseling services, eliminating barriers that may hold them back from re-joining society. Whether or not those people receive help, they’re coming back, Bordin said.
Out of 811 people that have gone through the program so far, two have returned to prison, he said.
“You do not see that level of success anywhere else in the state,” Bordin said.
It was mentioned several times throughout the night that once in the system, it is likely that person will end up in prison again. According to the most recent report on the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s website, the three-year recidivism rate in 2008-2009 was 61 percent and trending downward since 2005-2006, when the rate was 67.5 percent.
One question from the audience was why the county did not have a drug rehabilitation facility. Kittrell was pretty quick to respond.
“There’s no good answer,” he said. “We should have one.”
He said he often gets calls from parents looking for an inpatient rehabilitation center for their son or daughter and directs people to a facility in Santa Rosa, which only accepts private insurance. Kittrell said he hoped to meet with Enloe Medical Center to see what could be done about detox services. He said that was at the top of the list for his department, in relation to substance abuse issues.
The woman who asked the question said that for many in the community, getting to Santa Rosa for treatment would be like going to another planet.
With regard to a question about the possibility of a community court being established in Chico, Ramsey said he was concerned about not having enough resources to do the work appropriately and that he wasn’t “thrilled” about the idea of a community court filled with homeless people.
“It’s kind of a lose-lose proposition,” he said.
Kittrell said homelessness was probably the biggest difficulty his office faces.
Contact reporter Risa Johnson at 896-7763.
