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everyone in Omagh County, the chosen spot of all the earth as far as nature is concerned, According to the famed plant wizard Luther Burbank Diverse County, with 1,010,000 acres of land and 1574 miles of scenic roadways,

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Sanoma County is rightfully famed for its agriculture did a culture, industry and recreation, as well as for the amazingly successful ethnic and economic mixture of its more than 340,000 residents on for the forward looking philosophy of its local governing bodies. Now we invite you to take

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a closer look at Sonoma County in the eighties with your host, Rich McGlinchy. How you doing, everybody? Welcome to another edition of Sonoma County in the eighties. We talk about something that's going to be happening soon, and it's going to be very, very important in this

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county, and it certainly costs a lot of money. We're gonna be talking about the new male adult detention facility. You may refer to it as the noose Sonoma County Jail. We're gonna talk to gentleman. On the left of your screen is Sheriff Michaelson. On the right

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of screen is the man who sort of shepherded this project right through from beginning to its eventual end. We hope that's Michael Crystal, assistant administrator. Hi. Nice to have you back High Dex nights in all sincerity before we get to the actual questioning here. This is

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a monumental step. I mean, it's something it was ordered we had to do by law, by federal order, I guess, and And we have done or are doing and or the contractors door. And in general, this is something that's going to reach fruition very shortly. And

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it's going to cost water about about $42 million. I've been working on the project for the better part of five years and almost full time the last two years. You really be that. And you've been waiting for it for sure. All right, um, we just mentioned

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the feds a little bit there, Mike, But to what extent is the federal courts have jurisdiction over the existing. So no one county detention facilities and at what point will the court had ordered? All is terminate its jurisdiction Well under a an out of court settlement

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of a federal civil rights action, the charco case, the federal court gain jurisdiction over just about all of the detention operations in Cinema County. The federal court ordered us to construct the new M A D. F, the main adult detention facility, and we are hopeful that

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when the construction is complete, we occupy the facility. The federal court will vacate their order with the exception of retaining jurisdiction over one issue, which has to do with whether we can double cell in the facility. Right now, it's a A single cell facility. One person

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Purcell. Well, many people have seen the thing going up, Mike, but exactly where is the new male attention adult detention facility located? And then how does it relate to the present Hall of Justice? But we've brought a site plan which I believe is going to be

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put up on the monitor. What it shows is, uh, the existing county administration center, at least the north of the county administration center. At the bottom of the drawing, faces looking north of north is up eyes existing Hall of Justice. The new detention facility is to

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the north of the existing Hall of Justice, and it's connected to the Hall of Justice by a pedestrian bridge on the second floor of the new M A D F. The bridge connects courtrooms to the existing old Hall of Justice. And at the roof level, it's

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a restricted corridor for a movement of inmates between the new jail and the courtrooms in the all old Hall of Justice. Let's leave that on just a moment and point out one other thing. Mike, tell us something about the size, the design in the capacity of

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this new facility. Well, in terms of the size, it's approximately 240,000 square feet, much larger than the existing call of justice capacity. Right now. 404 inmates. It's essentially a masonry building. Reinforced masonry. Uh, there's a steel frame on the non detention areas, the office areas, basically

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a two story building. However, the general population areas on the second floor of the building have have a mezzanine. I brought with me several architects renderings. Perhaps we could just take a brief look at the Yeah, let's see the first line. It looks to the north

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through the main entrance of the facility, and the area on the right would be essentially an office building for the detentions detention staff. And on the left are court facilities. Superior Court on the second floor, Municipal Court on the first floor. That's north. Straight ahead, looking

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north. Right. Okay, Now this is the second the second rendering looks to the west. Uh huh. And what you're looking at the West would be are On the left side of the drawing is the bridge, which connects the existing hall justice to the new jail and

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on the right. Um, very right. You can see the inmate housing units, which are on the second floor of the facility. Well, Mike, what are the county operations will be located in the M e de f. Besides the detention facility itself you mentioned? Yeah, as I

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mentioned earlier. We'll have to Full service courts in the facility on the first floor will have a municipal court which will handle most arraignments and on the second floor will have a full service Superior court, including Judge's Chambers, Office staff, jury room. And that court has

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been designed to accommodate high security trials in the future. That's two courtrooms refer that purpose corrected by Mike Toe. What extent was called M A. D F. Because we're tired of saying male adult detention for 70 times. So what extent with the new M ADF, designed

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and constructed to provide for future population growth? Well, in the design of the facility, we oversized all of we call the support facilities such as the kitchen and laundry booking Sally ports to accommodate future population up to approximately 700. In addition, all of the general population

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housing units cells have been fitted with steel brackets that could accommodate a second cell second bunk. Assuming that we have approval Teoh double cell in the facility. And finally, we've master planned this site so that we can add an additional housing pod, which would give us

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something on the order of 150 to 250 additional beds. You, um, Mike, I'm sure the public's interest in general you mentioned that growth figure to begin with. But how much will the new facility cost at two other questions in the same one? How does this compare

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with other detention facilities that have been constructed in California Contra cost elsewhere? And where did the money come from? Okay, The total project budget is approximately $42 million in terms of our cost per bed. I think we fair we compare very favourably with other facilities are

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costs about $62,000 per bid statewide averages $60,500 in terms of where the money came from. Approximately 1/3 of the cost was financed with county general funds. Another third came from state funds, and a final third was borrowed by a least purchase financing arrangement. Well, I know

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you've been involved in this, as you say for 45 years, and for the last two years I know you've been your time's almost exclusively take it up in watching this construction and moving step by step with the people involved. How does the projected cost and completed

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date compared to the original schedule over the original budget and schedule in terms of the budget, I think we're doing doing fairly well. At the time we went out to bid on the major portion of the construction, we had a budget of about 41 million, 300

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were at 42 million. Now I think we'll bring the project in on that budget. In terms of the completion date. I we didn't meet our target. The project was to be completed in September of 1988. Were very hopeful that it's going to be completed in September

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of 1989. So it is a year late. All right. Um, if that's true, when will the new facility be made available for occupancy by inmates? More about anybody? Our plans call for complete occupancy of the facility 10 weeks after we obtained beneficial occupancy or the contractor

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achieve substantial completion. We believe that substantial completion is going to be accomplished somewhere around the beginning of October, which means that the new facility should be fully occupied by the middle of December 1989. Uh, what's the projected one thing to build it? Nothing to operate it.

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What's the projected annual cost of operating the new facility? And how many staff will that require? Ah, I'm not saying compared to the old jail. Well, uh, the 1989 90 budget includes about $7 million which is directly attributable to operation of the main adult detention facility,

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and that's out of ah, about a $16 million detention budget. In terms of staffing, we've allocated approximately 100 and 50 positions to the facility, and it's a little bit misleading in that it's a 24 hour day, seven day a week facility. So at any given time,

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uh, staffing would, uh, probably average about 25 persons. It's gonna be a very impressive structure. Lips when the outside I mean it, doesn't it, you know, I mean, it's deported mothers my personal opinion that the doctor blends in with the building structures over there, and it,

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uh, I don't know what it looks like. I guess it looks like a penal facility in a way. But in other ways, it looks something like a commercial building from the freeway, Certainly going by. Are you satisfied with the basic appearance of it? I realized that's

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not a primary function. But are you? I'm very happy with. With the design in the appearance, I think it it blends into the rest of the county administration center. I don't think it's an unattractive building. Nevertheless, it is a detention facility, and we're not trying to

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hide that fact. Are any events being planned to enable the public to gain excess to the new book function before it's occupied with inmates? Yes, there several events that we'd like to bring to the public's attention. First of all, the public dedication, which its plan to

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take place on Friday, November 3rd at at noon in front of the building. Um, after that event, the sheriff's department will be conducting tours of the facility on weekends for approximately a month after the dedication. They'll also be tours available by the Sheriff's Department. And finally,

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there is a social event on November 18th which perhaps the sheriff might allude to when he gets an opportunity to speak, called the Slumber in the Slammer. And that's another opportunity for people to get into the facility before it's occupied by the inmates. That's at the

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chance to get there and see all these things. Spend the night there and assure yourself that you do not want to be a permanent resident, right? All right, we're gonna pause right here. Let the station bring the audience of public service announcement. After that, we'll come

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back. We're gonna talk to Sheriff Take Michaelson, and we're going to see what his thoughts are on this new facility, which is very desperately needed and will still be open back in a moment. What This is Raymond Burr. There have been important changes in our criminal

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justice system. Now crime victims have rights. If you or someone you know is a victim of a crime, a free program is available to help you learn about these rights. Pick up the phone and dial toll free 1 800 victims. Learn about victims rights and services.

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Call now 1 800 victims. Sonoma County Apples Air sweetened Good cause the grown right here in your neighborhood with sandy soil and cool night breezes wafting through the apple trees. Home is the place for apples to grow big and ride and yummy. So remember when you

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buy an apple, look for local ones and that'll guarantee you've got the freshest, tastiest, most new Trefilov live using Apple's on the face of here, and you'll help keep our farm strong. To protect the heart Song Sonoma County. Ask your broker for local farm products. Welcome

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back. Ladies and gentlemen to this edition of Saddam account in the eighties were talking about the new male adult detention facility. Or as you may want to call it, the news to Noma County Jail, which is being constructed just about done will be available for for

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testing. I guess you might say and and certainly for some public visitation, which Michael sent the sheriff on the left is cream will talk about just a moment. The jail is my crystal has told us earlier is, uh, a $42 million construction. And ah, it's been

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going on for the past couple three years. They're just about through, and Mike almost had his entire time with the county involved in this facility and watching over. And Dick, you've been waking equally as long for the facility, which I know is desperately needed on you.

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I'm sure you're looking forward to that opening or are faced every day with a very large inmate population. And so to get that new building online will be a big help. Get Describe the current state of inmate population. Sonoma County. Uh, one state, California across the

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nation. What? What is it? Well, we have two primary corrections facilities, not just the main jail that we ever I think everybody refers to and is familiar with. We also have the North County detention facility which is located out by the airport, and when we combine

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both those populations. Each day we run somewhere between 725 and 750 people. That's a pretty significant amount considering where that population was just a couple of years ago. Looking at the state level, the state population is approaching 80,000 inmates, and when you look at it nationwide,

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if you include federal, state and county jails were approaching the 1,000,000 mark. So it's a pretty a sad commentary on what's happening in society today, Dick. There's a concept believe that exists of the so called new generation jail facility. What do they mean by that? Well,

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it's drastically different from what we're used to. I think what all of us think of jails. We think of the old Jimmy Cagney movie where you've got people locked up with bars between you and and the inmates themselves. And that's the way. Certainly are old Jail

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has operated a new generation Operation Direct Supervision speaks to the concept of having the correction staff living side by side with the inmates inside the unit, so the way it's designed and will be operated in the new facility will be to have, for example, one corrections

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officer inside a living unit in charge of 50 inmates. Now, at first, uh um, you know, blush there. You might think that that's a very dangerous situation to put an inmate are rather a corrections officer into. But we're working very hard on providing our staff with

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inter personal skill training. We found that the interaction that will take place between staff and the inmates will hopefully prevent a lot of problems from happening in the past. They've usually gotten out of hand, and then we've had to come in and take care of a

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serious disturbance or some other altercation that may have gone down, but we hope to deal with them before they actually occur. It kind of it may sound up out of place, but it's sort of a mutual trust arrangement that really starts to attract occurring very much

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so and again. I like to refer to my people is being, well, people managers, and that's what they are. And you will find that if they are in a position where they're required to move about the again the living model itself, interacting with these inmates that

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a lot of the frustration and the stress will be dissipated. What caused the county to be in a position that's in it? Present in regard. The construction of a new correctional facility. Well, I wouldn't want to get Mike mad at me. Uh, but I think is

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a variety of factors. One of the things that I think certainly needed Teoh have been done and will be will occur in the future is to provide for some long range planning. We certainly don't want ever put ourselves in a position where our backs there in

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the corner. And then we have a federal court mandating how we're gonna operate on a daily basis and what types of facilities need to be constructed. Right now, we have in place some long range planning, and I think the future is actually looking pretty bright. Uh,

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what steps have been taken, or are you taking to address the serious issue of inmate overcrowding? We heard about that. We've got tremendous cooperation from the county administrative officer time Shaw Flynn, from Mike and certainly from the Board of Supervisors. The board has the final say

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and all budget matters. And in the last three years now they have supported the sheriff's Department to the tune of several $1,000,000 of construction that have occurred out of North County. Without those remodels and new construction projects that have happened over the last three years, again,

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we would be in a very tough spot today so that that support has been a great deal to us. Mike mentions the fact that you could hold 404 people now it might be increased at some future point to up to 700. But what is the European?

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What does the future hold for the county's enormous ability to to, I guess, you'd say, keep up with inmate bed space need? Well, I do believe which the answer is not to build. Bigger and bigger jails mean some construction must occur, but I think we have

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to look to various sensing alternatives that would be available to us. I'm very pleased to report about the electronic monitoring program. We put together a staff report and it's now being supervised by our probation department, but that is met with great success, and I think again

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people are very familiar with that. There's been a lot written about it in the in the media where you put in Elektronik device on a person's ankle. And again it takes a certain type of inmate that can be put into that type of release program from

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actual physical custody. But again, we have to look at many other alternative types of sentencing. What is it? Lehman? I concur 100% because all people are not like people are in your jail for a variety of reasons, some very harmful people to others to property, that

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some for other reasons where there is not a threat on the part of that person. It would seem like that person might, you know, will be a a candidate for being out with with some sort of miners who provision. That's a very good point. And I

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just want to assure the people of similar county that those people that are a danger to society will be incarcerated and we'll be long up and others we will have to again look at these alternative sentencing programs. Yeah, uh, I don't want wander too far, but

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for instance, you could take somebody that might be in here, Kennedale for business or something of that nature that would happen. This person maybe has never done anything wrong in their life is not a threat to anybody else, but basically he violated the lawn and rightfully

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so. He's been placed incarceration, but that person might well with a background that he had 34 years old. Might well, being a candidate for what you're talking about, I think absolutely. In fact, I can tell you a short story. We've had two of our female inmates,

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both who were convicted of embezzlement, doing several months out of the North County detention facility. When we learned about their skills, we were actually able to bring them into our administrative offices and put them to work. And they did a tremendous amount of work because they

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were skilled professionals. Obviously, we don't let him get around any money, but, uh, they were a tremendous help to let him near the construction budget. And no, not at all. Wouldn't dare to do that. No, I certainly don't mean that isn't in earlier, uh, get described

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the difference between direct supervision as opposed to hard lockup Correctional facility well, again, just to recap what I said a little bit previously, it's it's it's drastically different, and I should tell you that that many of our staff are corrections officers had some deep concerns about

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going from the hard lock arrangement where you have lots of steel bars, lots of concrete and suddenly being told that they were going to be again physically, right. Walking about the living, you know, unit with the inmates themselves in that really in, in essence, is is

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the difference between the between the two. I will tell you another story. That was kind of interesting. A very close friend of mine who's bidding corrections. He's worked as a corrections officer for our department for a number of years. Hi was very, very reluctant to go

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through any type of training or transfer out to the North County facility to experience this direct supervision concept. We have many models and place out there right now that are direct supervision with 101 unit, for example, which is a very large, um, facility. We did, you

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know, he was told, You do. You will have to make that move because it's part of the training process. He went out there. I stayed there for about four weeks when it was time to transfer back to the main jail. He put in a request for

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transfer to stay out there, and the reason for that was that was an interesting comment from him, he indicated. He said, Sheriff, I'm used to taking care of individuals who are like caged animals and they act out in violence. And suddenly I went out to the

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sentence facility by the airport and I was interacting with the same people who who normally are in a pre trial status who are halfway decent human beings. And it all speaks to the type of living arrangement that inmates will be exposed to. And that's one of

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the things that we must do not only for staff, but for inmates. Aziz well is to train them and educate them in the difference between the two styles of supervision. Because we just can't expect them to move from the old jail to the new jail and

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without knowing how drastically different it's going to be is I'm thinking as you're talking, it is high time that we investigated new methods. You say we can't just keep big building bigger and bigger jails and incarceration, more, more pizza. We need to find alternative. I know

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you're working hard on that. The most drastic change for the inmates would be the fact that they're moving into single cell units. Each one of them will have their own individual cell vs upon our second floor of floor of our old jail. Right now we have

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tanks which have anywhere from 15 to 20 men in there. And you can imagine what happens when you put that many male adults into a tightly confined area. It's just erupts in violence. It's important. I think you answer this question. Just glad the operational level of

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services that be available in the new direct supervision jail facility. And I think I asked that question because with this facility being built the way it is with the new ideas and how to supervise inmates, there are certain amount of people are gonna accuse us of

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coddling that sort of thing. So that last question the operational level of services does about that we're gonna be able to do many more things than we've done in the past, and we're very, very again. Police with support we've gotten from our administrator's office in this

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regard will have thes arraignment courts that will be in place. We'll have recreation yards for each living unit will have visitation rooms and every one of the living units. All of this was designed with the with the concept that it would require a minimum amount of

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staff and will actually provide better levels of service, not only for us but for the inmates themselves. Another thing that's very important to point out, as we have a tremendous increase in program space. So programs such as Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, G E D. Programs, all

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of these things that can help in inmate recover from there. In most cases, they're substance abuse problems will be of great benefit to society when they're released back out. I've had the occasion to visit you in the center out there on several occasions for getting information,

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that sort of thing, And I've sat in on some of their lectures and meetings and this business off dealing with people are like the A and the drugs. That sort of thing is really paying great great rewards for the amount of time and money that's being

00:27:06.670 - 00:27:21.070

put in it. They're reclaiming, nor seems like to me an awful lot of people. One of the things that the board going back about a year ago approved and will be opening it up next month is a workflow drug. Alcohol rehab Center will have about 115

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or 16 beds for work for a loan that about 35 beds for an intensive counseling education component that will address, you know, people that have serious alcohol problems. And again, I see that as a very positive step in trying to change people's lifestyles and make them

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more productive. Citizens. Yeah, Jack What? Thea Well, I guess you'd say the percentage of your current budget that you're expending on correctional well right now, where this year's budget will be in the neighborhood of 34 million and about 50% of that goes to incarceration. So the

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operation of the jail and employee benefits and and salaries So it's very significant 50% in Sonoma County we now have. This is a pretty sobering thought. We have more people working inside detention, taking care of the bad guys, and we do have working out on the

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streets protecting your homes and businesses. Well, thank you for describing what's going to happen and what takes place in that jail. Nice to have you here. Pleasure to be here, Michael. Not to have you enjoyed finding out about what went on until the thing gets an

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operation? My name is reciprocally achieve. We've been talking to Sheriff Michaelson, Assistant County Administrator my crystal, about the new male adult detention facility, which will soon the opening. I'll be back with you next week. But remember the county government family on related agency. We'll talk more

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about this county. We live in a county we all love till and good night. Good. Let's good health and everyone.