Making Public Safety Realignment Work

By Ross Mirkarimi

Starting October 1, 2011 between 400-600 prisoners will be returned from State Prisons to our local jails. I have the right combination of law enforcement experience, legislative experience and political acumen to make sure San Francisco is prepared for this influx of prisoners.

The San Francisco County jail system will see an increase of 400-600 inmates. California has failed to deal properly with a prison population that is per capita larger than any country in the world. San Francisco is one of the few counties that isn't experiencing over-crowding in our jails. We will be able to absorb most of these additional inmates, with approximately half going into jail and the remainder into diversion programs. Effective diversion is important to save money so that both the Sheriff's and Adult Probation Departments will be funded sufficiently.

As Sheriff, I will advocate relentlessly for funds, as promised by the State to pay for these increased responsibilities. To date, for FY 2011-2012, barely 30 percent of the necessary funding has been allocated to San Francisco in the state budget.

Realignment will become operative October 1, 2011. In order to prepare, we must continue to plan for the transition of people and keep pressure on the state to transition adequate funds.

We actually began planning for this transition years ago. Between 2005 and 2007, I vigorously pushed the city to support restorative justice strategies, recognizing that what happens inside our local jail system directly affects public safety throughout San Francisco, especially in neighborhoods that are host to the highest percentage of parolees and probationers. Recidivism is at 65%.

From 2005 until 2008, there were two ad hoc reentry councils focused on different aspects of the reentry of people from prisons and jails to San Francisco communities. In 2008, I authored legislation unifying and strengthening these ad hoc councils through the creation of the Reentry Council of the City and County of San Francisco (see San Francisco Administrative Code 5.1), to coordinate local efforts to support adults leaving incarceration. The Council coordinates information sharing, planning, and engagement among all interested private and public stakeholders to the extent permissible under federal and state law. http://sfreentry.com

As Chair of the Public Safety Committee, I've held three hearings on prisoner realignment, and sponsored three laws that enable the City, and particularly, Adult Probation and the Sheriff to prepare for an unprecedented test - the infusion of approximately 700 inmates, low- level felons, into the SF County jail system. Each prisoner must assessed to determine whether they warrant incarceration, or diversion, or home detention (electronic monitoring).

In July 2011, the Community Corrections Partnership, an interdepartmental agency established by state law, chaired by the Chief Probation Officer, and the Public Safety Committee recommended, a 28-page plan outlining how San Francisco will implement Public Safety Realignment.

I will work with the State to ensure that county ideas and needs are heard in Sacramento as we all move forward to implement Realignment. Recently, the California Legislative Analyst's Office released: LAO Report: 2011 Realignment Addressing Issues to Promote Its Long-Term Success. In assessing the realignment plan adopted by the legislature, the LAO makes several thoughtful recommendations, with which I agree:

1)Develop local funding allocations that are responsive to changes in county demographics, not just historical data;

2)Structure county realignment accounts to provide program flexibility;

3)Enact a statutory scheme that allows local governments flexibility in responding to local needs and preferences, encourages innovation;

4)Standardize reporting data statewide to promote local accountability and provide uniform outcome measures that can be compared between counties in order to better discern best practices.