Supervisors to Decide Whether to Continue Inmate Shuttle Service

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By City News Service

Riverside County supervisors will decide next week whether to continue funding a transportation program that provides shuttle services for inmates released from the Murrieta jail to reduce nuisance complaints.

Riverside Inmate Destination Endeavor -- or RIDE -- was implemented on June 1, 2014, under a pilot project that officially ended on May 31.

Former Supervisor Jeff Stone, now a state senator, pushed for the program, which ensures that inmates released from the Southwest Detention Center during overnight hours and on weekends are offered vouchers to cover the cost of taxi rides or shuttles if they cannot arrange a ride on their own to their homes or other preferred locations.

According to the sheriff’s department, RIDE racked up $77,161 in expenses over 12 months. The Board of Supervisors voted for appropriations in June and December of last year and in March to keep the program afloat.

About $7,000 in unbudgeted expenses were incurred, and the supervisors will be asked during their Tuesday meeting to pay that bill when they also consider whether to keep the program alive.

RIDE was established in the wake of complaints from French Valley residents and business owners, who felt threatened by individuals leaving the Southwest Detention Center at all hours of the night. Some residents blamed property and other crimes occurring in their neighborhoods on the released inmates.

During the May 2014-May 2015 reporting period, crime in the area around the jail fell 5.7 percent compared to the same 12-month span a year earlier, according to sheriff’s officials. However, they noted that all of unincorporated Riverside County recorded a 5.6 percent drop in crime during that time.

“The crime analysis data provided no evidence that the pilot program has produced a measurable decrease in ... crimes in the area neighboring the Southwest Detention Center,” Assistant Sheriff Jerry Gutierrez wrote in a report to the board. “Data suggests the decrease was universal throughout the entire unincorporated patrol area.”

He acknowledged, however, that the program had apparently achieved the goal of addressing a “perceived crime increase” by reinforcing the feeling among property owners that the sheriff’s department was doing something to allay their concerns.

Gutierrez said that since RIDE went into effect, complaints about malingering inmates and unsavory characters standing outside businesses have plummeted.

According to sheriff’s figures, 1,547 inmates took advantage of RIDE between May and June. Sixty-three percent of those had been booked on misdemeanor charges, while 37 percent had been jailed for felonies. Just over 80 percent of the RIDE recipients were men.

The average cost of a program voucher was $49.88 per inmate, and according to sheriff’s officials, three different transportation services were utilized.

Inmates are generally set free with no bond requirement when the county’s detention facilities exceed capacity. A 20-year-old federal court order mandates that the sheriff have a bed available for each detainee, or release jailed offenders to make room for incoming ones. Sheriff’s jail personnel make a determination on whom to release on a case-by-case basis.

During the reporting period, 7,158 inmates were released from the Murrieta jail during the overnight hours and on weekends, according to the sheriff’s department.

The agency has since implemented a transportation program dedicated to relocating inmates whose jail sentences are approaching completion to a detection facility nearest their residence to reduce the likelihood of distant travel. An average 500 inmates are being moved every month for that purpose.