The impact of the reduced bookings and jail releases over the past year has also been largely unclear, obscured by a slew of other rapid-fire and pandemic-related changes. Now, more than a year after state and local directives to remove bail charges for many offenses, it’s not clear where the Sheriff’s Department booking policies stand, and whether officials are considering making them permanent. Then COVID-19 precautions stopped jail bookings for many of those misdemeanor offenses. Advocates have urged reductions in arrests for drug possession and quality-of-life offenses that they argue would lead to less spending on jails and provide increased funding for services and community programs. The dramatic drop in the county’s jail population has played out amid urgent calls for broad policing reforms across the country. The department has not posted its temporary policies on its website – and argues the documents shouldn’t be released under the Public Records Act either. Multiple attorneys told VOSD the more recent blacked-out document appears to contradict the California Public Records Act and another state law that went into effect last year requiring law enforcement agencies to publicly post policies they would otherwise release after formal requests. The department did release an unredacted version of the policy it had in place from mid-April through mid-June allowing bookings for misdemeanor domestic violence offenses and driving under the influence, for example, and advising officers to cite and release people for crimes including disorderly conduct and shoplifting absent special circumstances. 2, and the Sheriff’s Department said it opted to extend it through early September. The Sheriff’s Department would only release an almost entirely redacted version of a policy instituted July 2 listing offenses eligible and ineligible for jail bookings countywide to Voice of San Diego, a move that officials defended as an attempt to keep offenders from committing crimes with the knowledge they won’t be jailed for them. It has refused to release its current countywide policy. The department said it didn’t make that change elsewhere in the region but confirmed it made some additional misdemeanors eligible for bookings. The department last month told San Diego police they could resume bookings for all misdemeanors though a sheriff’s spokeswoman said those jailed are swiftly released. While the release of hundreds of inmates made headlines, changes to Sheriff’s Department policies dictating which offenses police can book low-level arrestees in jail for have played out more quietly.Įarly in the pandemic, most jail bookings for misdemeanor offenses ground to a halt. That number has fallen by a third following decisions to scale back jail bookings and release hundreds of inmates.Īs of Friday, the department reported just 3,758 people were staying in its jails. In the year before the coronavirus put inmates packed in county jails in peril, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department reported housing an average of 5,630 people in its seven jails each day. San Diego Central Jail / Photo by Tristan Loper Sheriff’s Department Is a Closed Book on Who Can Go to Jail Close
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