LAKE COUNTY — Steve Buchholz returned to a familiar position. He came out of retirement to serve as Interim Chief Probation Officer for Lake County.
He worked for the Lake County Probation Department for more than 30 years and served as Chief Probation Officer for nearly 16 years.
Buchholz will assist in the management of the transition that Lake County will make as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in May to fix California”s overcrowded prison problem.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation began efforts to cut the inmate population in its 33 prisons by May 2013. State legislators then passed, and the governor signed into law, Assembly Bill 109 to help meet the court order. Lawmakers allocated $5 billion for counties to implement local solutions.
“AB 109 shifts the responsibility for incarcerating many ?low-risk inmates” from the state to counties like ours,” Buchholz said.
On Sept. 20, the Lake County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to help the county manage a change in the Lake County corrections system.
“This plan is the result of many hardworking professionals in the corrections system, and is a solid first step toward helping the county manage additional offenders,” Buchholz said.
The state will continue to incarcerate offenders who commit serious, violent or sexual crimes, but the counties will supervise, rehabilitate and manage “low-level offenders.”
Some of the offenders who are not designated as “violent, serious or sexual” by legal definition, do pose a risk to the community, according to Buchholz.
“It is our goal to closely monitor all offenders being returned to Lake County, as well as those who can no longer be sentenced to state prison, until we determine they do not present a risk to our community.”
Buchholz said it is unfortunate that the funding provided by the state will probably fall far short of the financial responsibilities imposed on local jurisdictions with realignment legislation.
The Lake County Community Corrections Partnership (CCP), including the Lake County Sheriff”s Office, the Lake County District Attorney”s office and Probation Department among other agencies, worked to research options.
“It is not a matter of whether we want to deal with this; it is a matter of how we will deal with this big change,” Buchholz said.
“I am disappointed that former Lake County Chief Probation Officer Meredith Helton (now Marino) of Texas wrote a letter to the editor on this subject without first obtaining all the facts. That letter printed in the Sept. 22, Record-Bee edition suggests that no one in Lake County had been working on contrary to the former chief”s opinion,” Buchholz said.
In fact, he said that Lake County is one of a handful of counties to adopt and approve a realignment plan and submit it to the state prior to Oct. 1, 2012. All of the plan expenditures are for evidence-based programs.
In addition to changes at the Hill Road Correctional Facility to hold more inmates, community corrections programs will be expanded. Lake County will open a day-reporting center where offenders will go through a multi-phase program that includes ongoing reporting to the center, intensive treatment and training, and testing for drug and alcohol use.
Offenders will also participate in classes proven to change criminal thinking, Buchholz said.
“This program is not soft on participants; they will be held accountable for their actions. Failure to comply with day reporting center rules and guidelines will result in tighter curfews, more frequent visits to the center, additional classes, electronic monitoring, or incarceration. Additionally, we will open a program in the jail that will prepare inmates for employment and anti-criminal behavior.”
Buchholz said he is pleased that the Board of Supervisors approved the plan to help manage the additional offenders that Lake County will now have to manage as a result of AB 109. He thinks Lake County is taking a balanced and financially sound approach.
“If we change criminal behavior, we all benefit as these offenders become contributors to our community. Yes, there will be offenders who fail, but that is why we have the jail,” Buchholz said.
The CCP recommended BI Incorporated to assist Lake County in managing AB 109. BI works with almost a dozen California counties, such as Napa, Merced and Madera, where positive results are reported. BI Incorporated supports approximately 900 correctional agencies in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Guam and Australia. The company provides agencies with compliance technologies, monitoring services, evidence-based supervision, treatment programs for community-based parolees, probationers and pre-trial defendants.
BI”s solutions assist federal, state and local agencies to supervise a range of people from low- to high-risk offenders by combining new technology and expert technical services.
“By bringing in an experienced company, we can adapt quickly. In Merced County, for example, the county and BI set up a day-reporting center where community-based offenders go for supervision, treatment and training, rather than incarceration. In a county where the unemployment rate nears 20 percent, almost nine of 10 offenders who go to the Merced day-reporting center exit the program with a job or are in school. When people are working or see a positive future, they are more likely to stay out of trouble. And, importantly, the cost of these programs is much lower than incarceration,” Buchholz said.
The strategies were designed for the county to best manage the changes that AB 109 requires. The Board of Supervisors will receive regular updates regarding the progress of the plan.
“As a person involved with criminal justice for many years, I believe when we offer rehabilitation services, establish positive community links, and teach basic employment and decision-making skills, recidivism rates will be reduced, more victims avoided and taxpayers will pay less for incarcerating habitual re-offenders. Lake County is taking that approach. Modifications to our plan will be made as the needs of our community and offenders become more clearly defined,” Buchholz said.
