San Quentin, photo by Julie Vader via ShutterstockOPINION – As both a survivor of violent crime and someone who has had loved ones who are incarcerated, I commend Gov. Gavin Newsom for his bold new vision for California’s most infamous prison, San Quentin. In words and action, his administration is elevating the urgency to make corrective rehabilitation real in California, and creating
Photo by Lightspring Via ShutterstockWith California’s high levels of recidivism in mind, Oakland-based nonprofit Creating Restorative Opportunities and Programs (CROP) is set to open a reentry campus there for formerly incarcerated people in early April.
A suspect in custody, handcuffed by police. (Photo: Boyfare, via Shutterstock)Police response to mental-health calls often ends – again and again – in chaotic, noisy hospital emergency rooms, where staff is stretched thin, and a heart attack is likely to take precedence over someone in the throes of a mental-health crisis. “Traditionally, people would be dropped off at the ER, and the only option was to transfer them to a psychiatric facility,” says Dr. Scott Zeller, a nationally known emergency psychiatrist and former president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry.
Image of an inmate behind bars. Illustration: PhoelixDE, via Shutterstock)Mental illness cases in California jails have significantly increased since 2009, health policy experts reported Thursday. California Health Policy Strategies, a Sacramento-based consulting group, gathered administrative data from the Board of State and Community Corrections and discovered a 42 % increase in mental health cases reported and an 80 % increase in inmate medication prescriptions over the last 10 years.
A jail inmate clutches the bars of his cell. (Photo: Frank60, via Shutterstock)OPINION: The stated mission of this bill is to drastically reduce the number of individuals detained during pretrial. SB 10, written by Sen. Hertzberg, threatens the safety of victims by allowing the elimination of the private bail sector. The bail system in the state is no longer the determining factor. Instead, a computer program that makes a risk assessment of each arrested individual replaces the current system
A judge's gavel and money -- two elements of the bail process. (Photo: AVN Photo Lab)Bail is supposed to make sure that a defendant returns for the court date, although critics say bail merely punishes people for being poor. Legislation is moving through the Capitol to try to resolve this issue, but it is fiercely opposed by the bail agents and bounty hunters who make their living assuring the courts that skittish defendants will show up.
Officials at the Orange County Central Men's Jail investigate the area where three inmates escaped.(Photo: Associated Press/ Nick Ut.)Federal officials warned for years of “poor supervision” at a Southern California jail where three inmates — all charged with violent felonies — recently escaped, documents obtained by The Marshall Project show. The men’s elaborate route to freedom seemed made for the movies: They cut through layers of metal and navigated plumbing tunnels to reach the roof. They then rappelled down four stories with makeshift ropes, perhaps strung together from bedsheets or jail clothing.
Tour goers flank a mannequin of Dorothea Puente at the house on F Street. (Photo: Steve Martarano)Reporter’s Notebook: “If you’re interested in bodies,” the watch commander said cryptically, “go out to 14th and F streets.” I pulled up to the curb just a heartbeat ahead of a Channel 40 van. Unbeknownst to me, Sacramento’s most sensational serial murder case had started to unfold. I walked up to the excavated mound of dirt on the side of the yard and the homicide lieutenant there met me, and quickly said police had just found what they had been digging for all day: human remains. The officer pointed to a slab of concrete covering the side yard and said they would start digging it up the next day looking for more bodies.
Obit: In his three decades on the federal bench, Lawrence Karlton presided over many high-profile cases including several involving California’s troubled prison system. In 2009 he forced the overhaul of California’s prison health care system and ordered the state to reduce prison overcrowding.
Pumpjacks in a Kern County oil field, November 2013. (Photo: Christopher Halloran)Oil and water don’t mix, but in Kern County they’ve joined to create a double-whammy. Already confronting a drought of historic proportions, Kern County — the nation’s No. 2 agricultural county — also faces a severe financial hit because of falling oil prices. The county is home to more than two-thirds of California’s oil production.