Community Focuses on Alternatives to Incarceration

"I went to jail because I like to steal cars," Jannette said. "I'm not saying it's a good thing—it's not—but that's the only way I knew to make money."

Jannette was one of the first local jail inmates released in Santa Cruz County after the Public Safety Realignment Act (AB 109) went into effect last fall. During a forum on jail reform in Watsonville on Thursday, the young woman and two men on parole talked about how they ended up behind bars and the struggles they've faced since she transitioned from jail to a substance abuse treatment program.

Patch is not using their full names to protect their identities as they restart their lives.

"Just to be out, having freedom, it's overwhelming," said Jannette, who was ordered to wear an ankle monitor as part of her release from jail.

Electronic monitoring, sometimes coupled with court-ordered substance abuse counseling, is one method local courts are using to reduce jail overcrowding when AB 109 was implemented. The state law mandates that prisons reduce their populations, creating a trickle-down effect that sends offenders to jail who once would have been sentenced to state prison.

The law went into effect Oct. 28. In the time since, the average length of stay in Santa Cruz County jails has ballooned from 30 days to 445 days, according to Sheriff's Office Deputy Chief Jim Hart, who heads the county's corrections bureau.

Hart estimated the changes to sentencing laws will add 120 inmates to local jails by the fall. Sentences used to be limited to about a year. Now they average 3.2 years, he said.

"It really impacts facilities when you're housing people long-term," Hart said. "They're not violent offenders. They're drug offenders."

Hart and others justice system representatives addressed a group of substance abuse counselors, elected officials, law enforcement officers and others about how they can better serve the community given the changes within local jails. The day-long conference was held Watsonville. Other forums have been held in Santa Cruz and Live Oak.

Just before lunch, a panel composed Jannette, Danny and Arnulfo—three locals who are trying to re-acclimate to the community after serving time behind bars—talked about their experiences.

"We’re not all bad," said Danny, a parolee who first got in trouble as a teenager. He said people transitioning from jail to society need a strong support system and people working together, and praised local treatment programs like Si Se Puede, Janus and Gemma. "Those are all helping out and those are creating a system, a network… It’s helping us all stay straight.”

Danny was convicted of murder and sentenced to state prison when he was 17. He was paroled seven months ago, after serving 12 years of a 14-year-sentence. He told said he's adjusting to society and technology—Facebook didn’t exist when he went to prison. Finding a job now that he's on the outside has been hard, given his criminal record, but he says he's trying hard to not fall back into his old ways, like he could call up a couple of people and sell drugs.

“I know I could do a whole lot of bad stuff right now … but that’s not how I want to live anymore," Danny said.

Arnulfo, who grew up in a trailer park on Second Street in Watsonville, said giving kids more alternatives to the streets is a way to prevent today's youth from going down the path he chose.

“Anything that can keep kids from the streets, joining gangs its very positive and it will help," he said.

Jannette asked that people be more open-minded.

"People make mistakes and you can’t just judge them for what they did because people do change if they want to," she said. "Just give us a chance to go back to the community, show you guys that we’re able to change (and) that we’re able to be productive."

Coming up with tragedies to better serve convicted criminals as they reenter the community has been a priority for several local nonprofits for years but the effort became more urgent with the implementation of AB 109. Additional forums and work groups are planned to continue addressing this issue, leaders said Thursday.

The efforts also target reducing recidivism, which would lower jail populations while reuniting families and giving people a second chance in society. The panel of former inmates who spoke Thursday were supportive of this strategy.

"To just lock somebody up and throw the key away, that’s not going to solve the problem," Arnulfo said. "We have to do what we’re doing here. Try to look for a solution and help instead of just throwing everybody in jail and just forgetting about them. … These programs, they really work. For me, I don’t think I would be here if I hadn’t gotten that chance to go to Si Se Puede. It’s all about respect in there. It can be red, blue. It doesn’t matter what color you were or you are. In there, with time and with how the program in structured you become family."