JAIL COLLAPSE A MATTER OF TIME
   March 29, 2009
by Richard Johnson
    In September, 2007, a Willits citizen of little concern,  Larry Dean Temple died of natural causes in the Mendocino County jail in Ukiah. He checked in on an accident DUI and probation violation, but never checked out.
    Three days later, he was placed in the "Medical Isolation Observation" room, according to a sheriff department press release. That would be a spare drunk tank or an unused holding or visitation cell. There are no specialized medical facilities at the jail.
    He was found sitting on the floor unresponsive in the late afternoon the next day, given CPR by corrections deputies and medical staff, and taken to Ukiah Valley Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. The jailers said the 61 year old Willits resident had been placed in medical isolation because he had "heart problems" according to captain Kurt Smallcomb.
    His identity was withheld for four days, pending notification of family outside the area. Sheriffs never found them.
    Two and a half years later, inmates in B Tank set fire to the jail on March 28 and kept fire trucks and sheriff deputies in riot gear busy for an hour and a half before order was restored. See the exclusive video at www.ukiahvalley.tv
    Five days earlier,  the BOS heard a presentation from a Bay Area architect on a site feasability study for a new "justice center" that would house the sheriff, the DA, the two public defender branches, the probation department and a new county jail. According to the UDJ reporter the cost would be in the neighborhood of $500 million, most of which would presumably be paid by the state. The leading site seems to be the Brush Street Triangle west of the big bend in Highway 101 in North Ukiah, just south of the proposed DDR Mega-Mall.
    Supervisor Pinches opposes the project, saying the county could not come up with dime one in matching funds.  
  The City wants the facility downtown to generate income for existing businesses struggling to stay afloat despite the downturn, not to mention WalMart.
    Undersheriff Gary Hudson emphasized the present jail, located across from Ukiah High on Low Gap Road was "a piece of junk" purchased decades ago as a prefab temporary facility and now it's overcrowded.
    Prophetically, referring to the high security module at the center of the main jail, Hudson called it "a bunch of steel boxes welded together. It's a high security trailer park and it's falling apart. You are just a day and a dime away from a major incident."
  

    You are just a day and a dime away from a major incident." -- Undersheriff Gary Hudson, March 23, 2009
marchriot.jpg
Saturday afternoon, March 28. Inmates set fire to B Mod.

A State of Collapse:
    The decrepit state of the Mendocino County Jail is only one aspect in the complete collapse of the local justice infrastructure.
    On August 14, one of the consultants hired to propose options to the board of supervisors reported that at the county jail in Ukiah, walls are crumbling and inmates can pick chunks out with their fingers, lights need constant repair, the electric door locks don't function well, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning doesn't work and can't be repaired.
    Overcrowding of inmates and staff shortages result in  failure to provide adequate inmate security, supervision and care. Many inmates do not have bunks and must sleep in fiberglass "boats" on the floor. According to the consulant, this is a violation of state standards.
    Lockdowns necessitated by staff shortages are frequent. Inmates remain confined to their cells and cannot exercise, get medical treatment, attend counseling sessions or be fed in the cafeteria. The March 28 incident was probably a failure to secure inmates in another  location while tossing their cells for contraband.  The violence broke out after a single corrections officer entered the tank to "explain things." When he was supposedly threatened, a strike team had to go in to "take the inmate down." That's when the TV was smashed and the fires were set, causing the doors to automatically lock with the officers surrounded by angry inmates. The overhead sprinklers did not function. The fire department had to pump water from outside to douse the flames.
    Mental patients are housed with the general population, and cry out in anguish at all hours of the day and night. Their pain becomes part of everyone's life.
    There are no janitors in jail. Inmates perform cleanup, but they are only given cold water and old newspapers with which they must get down on their hands and knees to scrub floors.

Inhumane Conditions:
    Some inmates at the end of their rope plug the toilets in their cells with paper towels and flush in order to flood the unit. Then everyone must get up and mop. Feces and urine are present in this effluent, which people must inevitably touch in order to clean it up.
    Staph infections caused by these practices and lack of heating  and ventilation are common. There is mold everywhere there is water. Hot water is only present in the cells and the showers, none is available for mopping up. The roof leaks, the walls are cracked.

Inmates advise each other not to get sick in jail. Larry Dean Temple would agree it's good advice.

    Medical services are provided to the jail by an outside contractor. These are perfunctory and notoriously poor. Inmates advise each other simply not to get sick in jail. Larry Dean Temple would agree it's good advice.
    The booking unit is a scene from star wars. Plaster around steel grates is breaking away, the walls in the holding cell are steel. Steel benches are too narrow to sleep on. Men lie on the floor to rest. It is so crowded you may have to wait to use the toilet. It can take 5-10 hours to be processed for release or housing. The drunk tanks are places where you don't close your eyes for very long. The cement floor is where you sit, stand, or lie down.  
    Inmates must be walked individually to the visitation area, creating security concerns.
    Food is the minimum required by state law which calls for only one hot meal a day. Canned food is common with very little fresh vegetables. The diet is rich in fat, salt and processed meat. Breakfast can be a carton of milk, a banana and a cookie. Lunch can be a baloney sandwich. Dinner can be canned spaghetti with a canned vegetable.  

Failure to Plan or Invest:
    The consultant said jail Building 1 was constructed with federal funds as a minimum security rehab center near the sheriff's compound on Low Gap Road in 1973 to get prisoners out of the upper floor of the courthouse. It was never meant to house dangerous felons, but was in fact used for that until a spate of escapes and discipline breakdowns required action.
    Ten years later, state jail construction funds became available for the first time and the county successfully applied for $3 million which it used to purchase a pre-fab temporary metal jail.
    In both cases, supervisors siezed on opportunities to get outside funding for jail facilities, and have avoided allocating county resources to house their prisoners.
    As a result of the inadequacy of these facilities, maintenance and repair costs are much higher than they should be, according to the consultant.
    Shipped from Chicago, Building #2 was never meant to be as stand alone jail. It was designed to house the maximum number of inmates at the least cost, eliminating medical and mental treatment and housing facilities. The kitchen and laundry are inadequate for the number of inmates crammed into the facility.
    And it's going to get worse. A new state law required counties to jail felons who are to serve three or fewer years, up from one year or less as before.  
    The consultant, Steve Reader of Reader Associates wrote a master plan for the county's justice infrastructure last year at a cost of $85,000. Supervisors are ignoring it, and have stated there is no money to pay for what he has proposed.
    A feasability study has been ordered at a cost of $200,000. It will also be ignored. Assistant county administrator Alison Glassey told the board they could hold off any action to fix these conditions from the next 5-15 years with no problem.
    Mr. Reader, however, said the criminal justice system was "hemorraging" and required immediate attention. He said the current crisis was caused by a chronic failure of Mendocino County to plan for or invest in improvements to its justice infrastructure.
    The March 2009 riot was the second signal, the first was the death of Inmate X, Larry Dean Temple of Willits.