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The Fate of Juvenile Hall

In late March of this year, it suddenly dawned on County CEO Carmel Angelo that Juvenile Hall was badly overbudget. Her initial reaction was to simply tell the Probation Department that she was slashing the Juvenile Hall budget to less than a third of its requested amount.

At the 2017-18 budget review in June of last year (2017) acting Chief Probation Officer Kevin Kelley’s $2.3 million Juvenile Hall budget was rubberstampted by Angelo and the Board, even though they knew that budgeting $450 per day per delinquent was more than triple the cost incurred per delinquent of neighboring counties. (And that doesn’t even mention an overrun of $400k over the already depleted budget that somehow wasn’t noticed until March.)

We’ll spare you another rant about the County’s absolute lack of basic departmental reporting which should have provided the basic info to catch this problem much earlier, and move on to next week’s Supes meeting where the Juvenile Hall budget problem is buried in a much larger budget presentation rather than being addressed by itself.

Lots of locals are against closing the Hall, saying that these “juveniles,” these “youth,” these “children” (ha-ha), shouldn’t be shipped out to, say, Sonoma County’s Hall where they would be farther from local family. They say there are more cost-effective models that would keep the Mendo Hall open, but they haven’t provided any so far.

Remember that Juvenile Hall is part of the Probation Department, which is paid for by the County but is lately flagrantly mis-managed by the Courts.

The Probation Department has undergone major management turmoil in the last year or two stemming from former Chief Probation Officer Pamela Markham’s libidinous carrying-on during work hours, which was either ignored or envied for months by her alleged supervisors at the Superior Court, who placed her on paid administrative leave while several hundred thousand dollars were thrown at outside lawyers “investigating” Markham's torrid desktop work habits while an acting CPO tried to run the department.

As the Markham farce played out at huge cost to taxpayers, a succession of overpaid interims and temps and actings also ignored or were ignorant of the huge cost increases and overruns at Juvenile Hall. (We note that the outside investigation/lawyers were not charged to the Probation Department’s budget either.)

Meanwhile, Mendo’s bloated and overlarge management staff gave itself raises which took another bite out of Probation and the Hall’s allocated budget, along with everything else.

Back in March none of the overpaid Supervisors asked how it was that the Juvenile Hall budget deficit had suddenly grown so large. Not one $84,000 per year supervisor asked how Juvenile Hall was going to slash their prior year’s budget. Not a single $84,000 a year supervisor asked to have the new Chief Probation Officer appear in front of the Board to explain the situation. Not one $84,000 a year supervisor asked for spending or cost-cutting options to be put on a future agenda.

Instead, the Board seemed satisfied with CEO Angelo’s comment at the end of the discussion of the item: “As we look at our costs going forward I think we’re really going to have to watch what we’re doing.” (Jesus Prayer optional while you consider the implications of the preceding statement.)

As usual, next week’s Supes budget agenda item includes a muddled, disorganized Probation “presentation” which addresses the Juvenile Hall problem, gathers up some miscellanous related data, but doesn’t really propose much.

We are told that Mendo has 89 juveniles on probation — 56 on formal probation, 22 on informal probation, and 11 “others.” And there are 30 juveniles who are “Title IV-E Eligible” (meaning Social Security pays part of their incarceration costs).

But the number of juveniles in the Hall is running pretty low at 10-15 at any given time (not counting a few from Lake County who are no longer being sent to Mendo because Lake County no longer is willing to pay Mendo’s exorbitant daily rate.) This begs the question of how costs could have escalated so quickly for the relatively small number of junior criminals in the Hall being overseen by way too many staffers.

Clearly the absence of competent Probation management resulted in the continuous hiring of friends of staff (the age old Mendo hiring strategy) without any consideration of the cost until Lake County finally said no more.

Instead of cutting  their budget by over two-thirds as previously mentioned, Probation is being given a slightly less drastic 44% of last year’s budget. But, according to the presentation, if the Mendo Hall stays open it will still cost an additional $1.3 million over the slashed allocated amount. 

A “Sonoma County Option” involves closure of the Hall and farming Mendo’s juveniles out to SoCo. 

The rest of the Probation presentation is your typical unhelpful list of this cost and that cost, but it’s so disorganized that it’s unclear which option the costs apply to. Obviously, the SoCo option will save money here and cost money there (more transportation, for example). But SoCo’s cost per day per delinquent isn’t all that much less than Mendo’s, so there doesn’t appear to be that much savings in that option.

The anonymous presentation seems to prefer keeping the Mendo Hall open but reducing its capacity to 20 “youth,” with corresponding staff reductions of half a dozen or so apparently unnecessary positions and a reduction of out of control overtime. This option would mean that fewer juveniles would be placed in the Hall. How this would work is not explained other than to say they’d remain “in their community.”

(Euphemism, as applied to under-age criminals, is always laughable. Juvenile Hall is a lock-up facility, and young people are placed there for the same reasons that older people are sequestered at the County Jail.)

It does not appear that any effort was made to look at different “models” as suggested by AV School Superintendent Michelle Hutchins a couple of weeks ago. You’d think that the Board would take Ms. Hutchins and her fellow Superintendents up on their offer to present those models before any decisions are made about the future of Mendo’s Juvenile Hall.

The prospects for the future are not helped by the Probation Department’s list of “Juvenile Hall FY 2017-18 Accomplishments.” First — first! — on their list: “Implemented Mindful Meditation and Yoga Program.”


(This report has been corrected to properly distinguish between Kevin Kelley (ey), current head of juvenile probation, formerly acting Chief Probation Officer, with Kevin Kelly (no ey) the Ukiah and frequent court psychologist.)

 

14 Comments

  1. William Smith June 6, 2018

    You combined two people into one. Kevin Kelley from Probation and Dr.Kevin Kelly are two different people. Their names are not even spelled the same. How can we trust the fact checking on your article if you can’t even figure out that it’s two different people?

    • Eric Sunswheat June 6, 2018

      AVA staff works with a shoe string budget, stretched thin over a range of issues. Once in awhile, they trip over their shoe laces, behaving badly, not as otherwise bad ass.

  2. Rusty Shackleford June 6, 2018

    What is laughable is you can’t figure out that Dr. Kevin Kelly and Probation Kevin Kelley are two different people. They don’t even spell the names the same way.

    • Bruce Anderson June 6, 2018

      Thanks, Shack, for the clarification.

  3. james marmon June 6, 2018

    Don’t worry about mistaking the Kelly vs. Kelley thing, some of us got the gist of the story.

    Which reminds me, we have a lot to thank the Kelly’s for.

    “BACK IN 2000 THE FOLLOWING COMMENTS Were Published Regarding The County’s Psychiatric ‘Health’ Facility (Phf) Unit, Summarizing The Reasons The Unit Was Closed.

    THE AVA WROTE: The County’s psychiatric unit in Ukiah known as the PUFF Unit has been closed since December 5th. The Mental Health Department’s new director, Kristy Kelly, said staff at the lock-up holding facility was “stressed out” and needed time off to gather their own senses. Workers had been putting in a lot of OT because the unit is chronically understaffed. Since early December, following suicides of persons who had been in and out of the PHF, the North Bush holding cells and the dubious services extended to the persons confined to them have been closed. Local cases requiring sequestration have been farmed out to facilities up and down the Northcoast or housed at the County Jail.”

    https://www.theava.com/archives/60587

    After PHF fiasco, Kristy followed me to Lake County where she continued to perform her magic until they ran her out there.

    She now works as a consultant for the CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE FOR BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS (CIBHS) and for the past two days has been putting on a big show for the State (Department of Health Care Services)

    https://www.cibhs.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/jun18_cbhfl_inst_onsite_03f-web.pdf

    James Marmon MSW
    Former Mental Health Specialist
    Lake County

    • james marmon June 6, 2018

      Speaking of Kristy Kelly and the closure of the PHF Unit

      “Sheriff Tony Craver shares some of the responsibility for the closing of the PHF in 2000 because he started sending psychotic and suicidal inmates there in orange jumpsuits with armed guards. That frightened the other patients and the staff. Five staff members went out on disability leave which meant the PHF couldn’t be properly staffed and would be violating State law if they stayed open. The County was only offering RNs $23,000/year when they could make at least $10,000 more working elsewhere. On top of that, there was a suicide in the PHF and a Grand Jury reported that a psychotic man was placed in four-point restraints at the PHF and badly beaten with multiple bruises and broken ribs and the two staff members never recorded his condition every 15 minutes as is required by law.”

      -Sonya Nesch, Author Advocating for Someone with a Mental Illness

      Comptche

      https://www.theava.com/archives/50835#6

      James Marmon MSW

    • Rusty Shackleford June 6, 2018

      Don’t worry about messing up is the mantra of Mendocino County. We accept mediocrity here at the AVA and the Mendocino County Probation Department as well. Mendocino County gets all the D list people and we accept it because its the best we can get.

      Lets all give Mark and Kevin (which one?)and round of applause for trying to do their jobs to the best of their ability.

  4. Jess Laws June 6, 2018

    Who is the division manager for the Juvenile Hall all these past years? Who runs the Juvenile Hall? Does any one know?

  5. james marmon June 8, 2018

    The Board succumbed to Mental-cino County Political Correctness (PC) again, thinking with their hearts not their brains. I don’t always agree with Nurse Ratched (Angelo), but I did on closing the hall and sending the little bastards south. The half utilized hall would have been perfect for a locked mental health facility, freeing up Measure B money for much needed prevention and step-down mental health facilities.

    James Marmon MSW
    Former Youth Counselor
    Mendocino County Youth Project

  6. Joe Hansem June 10, 2018

    Well, Lake County closed its hall a couple years ago and entered into a joint operating agreement with Mendo, with Lake’s kids going to Ukiah, something that was supposed to save each county hundreds of thousands of dollars, but that was recently scrapped, and since Lake’s facility has already been repurposed, they’re sending them now all the way to Red Bluff! No credible reason for this change was given, but I suspect that a subtext of it is that the Hall is run by Pam Markham’s boyfriend Bechtol, but her ex David is now a Lake County judge. But with Ukiah supposedly having an average hall population of less rhan 10 kids (Lake’s was 7), whether keeping it open is financially viable or not is a serious question.

    • james marmon June 10, 2018

      Lake County folks didn’t get their panties all in an uproar over closing our hall down like Mendo-libs did. We’re a poor county and have to make hard decisions, smart decisions.

      Juvenile hall to close
      Lake County Record-Bee
      POSTED: 10/08/15, 10:28 PM PDT

      “Local and national realignment initiatives have shifted the juvenile justice system’s focus away from institutional custody. Statewide, the rapidly declining minor incarceration rate is based on studies that say time spent locked up only increases the chances of more jail time down the road. Instead, alternatives such as counseling are being recommended.”

      http://www.record-bee.com/article/NQ/20151008/NEWS/151009866

      P.S. “Skyping” — online video conferencing — was made available for families and defense attorneys to cut down on the so called travel time from Lakeport to Ukiah. The same would have been made available in Sonoma County for Mendo’s little rascals. Furthermore, anyone that knows anything knows that defense attorneys are most likely only going to meet with the kids at the Courthouse, just a few minutes before their court hearing.

      James Marmon MSW

  7. james marmon June 10, 2018

    A good portion of the hall’s kids end up under the jurisdiction of dependency court and in foster care. Especially if there is a WIC 300(b)(1) allegation.

    ” WIC 300(b)(1) The child has suffered, or there is a substantial risk that the child will suffer, serious physical harm or illness, as a result of the failure or inability of his or her parent or guardian to adequately supervise or protect the child,…..”

    http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WIC&sectionNum=300.

    WELFARE AND INSTITUTION CODE 241.1.
    (a) Whenever a minor appears to come within the description of both Section 300 and Section 601 or 602, the county probation department and the child welfare services department shall, pursuant to a jointly developed written protocol described in subdivision (b), initially determine which status will serve the best interests of the minor and the protection of society. The recommendations of both departments shall be presented to the juvenile court with the petition that is filed on behalf of the minor, and the court shall determine which status is appropriate for the minor. Any other juvenile court having jurisdiction over the minor shall receive notice from the court, within five calendar days, of the presentation of the recommendations of the departments. The notice shall include the name of the judge to whom, or the courtroom to which, the recommendations were presented.”

    http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=WIC&sectionNum=241.1.

    Talen Barton was one of those kids that should have never been ended up in Dependency Court or the Norvell-Palmieri home. Had I been the Social Worker involved in the WIC 241.1 assessment, I would have pushed for a psychological assessment before making any recommendation regarding jurisdiction.

    Laytonville murderer Talen Barton an ‘absolute monster

    “Barton was taken in by the Norvell-Palmieri family at age 17 after being arrested in January 2013 for threatening his previous foster mother, Denise Shields. As a juvenile, Barton served 5 months of formal probation for misdemeanor vandalism. The incident was the only crime on record Barton had committed prior to the murders.

    Barton also described his anger at Shields to investigators, “I would have killed her if she had been there (at the Palmieri house). If anyone deserved it she did. She also knew I had anger issues.”

    Barton’s juvenile probation officer at that time noted concerns about “Talen’s emotional balance and his risk of becoming a danger to others.” She warned the Norvell-Palmieri family that it wasn’t a good idea to take Barton in.”

    Cindy Norvell told detectives Barton told them at the time, “You guys are really gonna regret ever bringing me into your home.””

    http://www.willitsnews.com/article/NR/20151007/NEWS/151009973

    James Marmon MSW
    Former Social Worker V
    Mendocino Family and Children’s Services (Court Unit)

  8. Kevin Smith June 12, 2018

    Wow James! You sure have a lot of formers after your name and a lot of axes to grind. How many of those places fired you? Most be nice to have a place to get back at all those bosses who have wronged you. Do you have anyone else you want to call out while you are on your soap box?

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