Interim sheriff outlines budget priorities as supervisors press for staffing, AB 109 details

Interim Sheriff Vicki Hennessy told the San Francisco County Expanded Budget and Finance Committee that the sheriff’s department’s top priorities for the 2012–14 budget cycle are managing state realignment under AB 109, addressing long-running staffing shortfalls and improving jail information technology.

"Realignment goals are to collaborate with our partners to create and implement a continuum of meaningful in-custody and post-custody services designed to, pardon me, monitor progress and reduce recidivism," Hennessy said while presenting slides and high-level projections to the committee.

Hennessy provided an early snapshot of the department’s caseload and capacity: about 204 average monthly inmates in custody related to AB 109, representing roughly 8.6 percent of the department’s jail capacity, and an average inmate length of stay of about 40 to 53 days. She said the department’s average daily census is about 1,550 and that facility capacity is approximately 2,200.

The sheriff said the department has had no sworn hires in…