65A - SA JAIL UPDATE - Laserfiche WebLink

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Update on Santa Ana Jail May 17, 2016 Page 2 The City Manager, Police Chief, and Jail Administrator conducted eight meetings with community members and advocacy organizations (Exhibit 1) to discuss their concerns. These meetings were held on the following dates and locations: Meeting # 1 Meeting # 2 Meeting # 3 Meeting # 4 Meeting # 5 Meeting # 6 Meeting # 7 Meeting # 8 March 3, 2016 March 4, 2016 March 7, 2016 March 17, 2016 March 30, 2016 April 4, 2016 April 6, 2016 April 11, 2016 Center OC CMO Office Ross Annex Room 1600 Ross Annex Room 1600 CMO Office Center OC Ross Annex Room 1600 City Hall 831 (With P.O.A.) The conversations were focused around two major policy areas. The first focus area was regarding improvements to the overall conditions at the Santa Ana Jail facility, the handling of the transgender population at the facility, the facility's strip search policy, release procedures, and specifics regarding the proposed transgender population module. The Jail Administrator worked with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to provide good faith efforts to reduce the need for strip searches for detainees that are not mixed with populations from other facilities. Staff will continue working toward improvements to ensure that the Santa Ana Jail facility provides high quality and dignified care. The second area of concern focused on discussing mid -to -long range strategies for phasing out the ICE contract at the Santa Ana Jail facility. Initial discussions with community members highlighted the lack of support for the privatization of the jail facility. These community members indicated that they would not be able to support a single approach for re -use. The conversation concluded with the preference for a re -use study of the facility with multiple options. Staff recommends working with the involved stakeholders to draft and review a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to identify a consultant to study jail re -use options for the Santa Ana Jail Facility. During the two month span of conversations with the community, the Santa Ana Jail facility experienced a decline in ICE detainees, from a population of 237 to a low of 165. This decrease in population resulted in a $3,097,755 annual reduction. As of May 9 2016, the population increased to 182. The transgender population has decreased to 27 people in a module designed for 64 and is not financially feasible under the current agreement. If the City Council does not approve the Transgender Care and Classification Committee Pilot program, staff would need to combine the transgender and gay /bisexual modules. Members from the Lesbian, Gay, Bi- Sexual, Transgender (LGBT) community provided suggestions to improve the conditions for the transgender detainees. The Transgender Care Memorandum is a document intended for ICE personnel, which directs them to house transgender females in a facility with a Transgender Care and Classification Committee (TCCC) program. The Santa Ana Jail would be the first facility to form a committee that would take into consideration the transgender detainees' preferences as it relates to their custody and housing placement within the facility (Exhibit 2). However, some type of financial assurance would be required in order to provide increased levels of specialized care for the facility's transgender population. 65A -2