Receive and file the Inmate Welfare Fund Annual Report for 2015-16. (No general fund impact) (Prieto)

Receive and file the Inmate Welfare Fund Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2015-16.

Operational Excellence
Safe Communities
 

In Fiscal Year 2001-02, the Inmate Welfare Trust was transferred to a separate fund and a new budget unit created within the Sheriff's Office budget in order to comply with General Accounting Standards Board publication number 34. This Inmate Welfare Fund receives revenue from the sale of commissary items to the inmates and a commission percentage on the inmates telephone usage paid directly by the servicing phone company. These funds are deposited in a restricted fund (Fund 055, now Accounting Unit 128425096860) and are administered and expended by the Sheriff primarily for the benefit, education, and welfare of the inmates incarcerated at the Yolo County adult detention facilities (Monroe and Leinberger) as follows:

• Commissary Products (includes personal goods, cards, postage, etc.)
• Equipment (TV, videos, recreation, etc.)
• Operational (hygiene/supplies/bus passes/salaries)
• Facility Maintenance (repairs, additions, etc.)
• Education (system, law library, providers, staff, etc.)

Since 1996 this funding source has made it possible for the Sheriff's Office to provide and coordinate inmate instructional, training, and education programs. Educational programs made available to inmates during the past fiscal year were:

• Woodland Literacy Program
• Yolo County Office of Education Preparatory Mathematics and English Instruction
• Janitorial/Yard Program
• Friends Outside

The Literacy Program allows inmates to be able to earn their G.E.D. before being discharged, while the Yolo County Office of Education works in concert with the Literacy Program and provides extra instruction in Math and English to inmates that require extra help with their independent study. Friends Outside provides inmates and their families with personal assistance in family matters while incarcerated.  Upcoming projects for the Inmate Welfare Program include the provision of tablets for educational outreach, vocational training, and behavioral therapy.  These programs are designed to aid inmates in a successful reentry into the community upon release from jail by sending them home with as much education and resources as we can to help break the recidivism rate.

Penal Code Section 4025 (d) specifies that an itemized report of these expenditures shall be submitted annually to the Board of Supervisors. The Sheriff's Office is submitting the attached report in compliance.

The attached chart shows fiscal year-end status of the Inmate Welfare Fund for Fiscal Year 2015-16.  The ending balance has decreased 76% since Fiscal Year 2010-11.  This decrease is attributed to several factors: 1) the increase in cost of salaries and benefits for the dedicated correctional officers that manage the Inmate Welfare Program, 2) the increase in costs associated with General Services staff needed to maintain the detention facilities due to damage caused by inmates, 3) the increase in costs for the professional contracts for specialized services provided to the incarcerated population as part of the Inmate Welfare Program, and 4) the change in revenue received from commission on commissary items and telephone calls.  Items 3 and 4 are of particular interest. Staff has noted that as the demographic of the jail population has changed due to AB109, resulting in an increase in requests for specialized services such as legal library access, the received commissary commission used to offset the cost of these services has decreased.    

The Sheriff's Office has made program alterations in response to the observed changes in the Inmate Welfare Fund. Dedicated staff had been reduced to one Correctional Officer and one part time extra help Correctional Officer, however, in Fiscal Year 2015-16 these salary costs were absorbed by the Detention Accounting Unit. Additionally, some contracts for specialized services have been shifted to another accounting unit and/or department and increased AB109 funding has been requested to cover those costs. In April of 2016, the Sheriff's Office initiated a RFP process to select a new vendor for the provision of Inmate Communication Services (ICS).  Although the commission rate paid in Fiscal Year 2015-16 for ICS has decreased 23% in comparison to Fiscal Year 2014-15, it is the hope that with the selection of this new vendor use of inmate telephone service will increase and the number of dropped calls will decrease, stabilizing the amount of revenue received by the Inmate Welfare Fund.

Despite the decrease, the 2015-16 ending balance of $27,245 shows the fund is in good financial condition.

Data source for the attached chart is the Department of Financial Services Income Statement as of June 30 annually.  Purchasing has been involved with the inmate telephone vendor selection and has reviewed and approved all contracts for professional and specialized services provided under the Inmate Welfare Program.  County Counsel has also approved all contracts for professional services.