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Alameda County updates Reimagine Adult Justice rollout, previews site-and-release report
Summary
County public-safety advisor Wendy Still told the Public Protection Committee the Reimagine Adult Justice initiative has advanced on multiple fronts: data-sharing work is underway, a pretrial referral expansion carries a roughly $755,700 first-year price tag, and a July report will recommend possible site-and-service centers; a researcher's contract is slated for Board consideration July 9.
Wendy Still, public safety advisor to Public Protection Chair and District 2 Supervisor Lisa Marquez, told the Alameda County Public Protection Committee on June 27 that the county has made measurable progress implementing recommendations from the Reimagine Adult Justice (RHA) initiative and will bring a fuller site-and-service center report back to the committee in July.
Still said she is personally tracking 22 of the RHA recommendations and that 58 recommendations in the broader RHA work generally align with recent CareFirst/Jails Last Task Force findings. She said Recommendation 1 is complete and that multiple items highlighted in the county's status chart are ready to transition to department leads for ongoing implementation.
The nut graf: Still outlined near-term deliverables and timelines that county leaders will use to decide which reforms to operationalize first, including a July presentation on recommendation 49 (site-and-service centers), a September report on a proposed jail population review team, and a July 9 Board consideration of a sole-source contract with researcher Wendy Ware to transfer a Santa Rita Jail population simulation model.
Among the concrete reforms Still described was an expansion of a Pretrial Service Referral System currently live in three housing units at Santa Rita Jail (one female, two male). She said the court plans to expand the system across additional units with an implementation goal of September 2024, and that a proposed funding request to support expanded pretrial personnel, technology and operations is estimated at about $755,700 in year one, roughly $1.8 million in year two and about $1.9 million ongoing.
Still described data-sharing work as a critical enabler of several recommendations. She said county departments—9 sheriff's office, probation, social services, behavioral health and ITD 9are identifying specific data fields and exploring automated interfaces to allow cross-departmental access to booking, charging and service-eligibility information. Still said ITD is assessing whether there will be costs for creating those interfaces and that additional agreements will be presented with implementation timelines.
On the sheriff's oversight and transition work, Still said 10 recommendations relate to creating a sheriff's oversight body "pursuant to AB 11 85" (as referenced in her presentation) and that the county has drafted a board letter supporting the sheriff's transition plan. She reported the sheriff's transition work has completed many tasks (Still cited 35 objectives and dozens of tasks) and that the county and sheriff's office are coordinating on a strategic plan and a proposed oversight ordinance expected to move toward the Board.
Still also described recommendations to modify ATIMS, the sheriff's case-management system, so it can produce automated reports and collect data now compiled manually; that work, she said, would help the county evaluate whether to continue a marshals contract and support future contract negotiations. She said she is drafting a letter recommending the Board mandate an annual marshals contract analysis.
Responding to public commenters and callers, Still said the District Attorney's office has been cooperative in data sharing, and she reported the county has begun to receive charging and outcome data from CRIMS for 2021 onward. She also said the proposed researcher contract with Wendy Ware will include de-identified data and that the researcher will transition a population-simulation model to the sheriff's department to support ongoing analysis.
Members of the public who spoke during the item praised the initiative but pressed for clarity on long-term funding, the future structure that will sustain interagency coordination after Still retires, and how CareFirst/Jails Last recommendations will align with RHA. Daryl Stewart of Supervisor Miley's office asked whether site-and-service centers would be operational by the report date; Still clarified that the July deliverable is a report and recommendations, not operational facilities, and that site locations will be recommended based on jurisdictional booking patterns and listening sessions.
Next steps Still outlined include returning to the Public Protection Committee with the site-and-release center report in July, presenting a more definitive update on the jail population review team in September, and bringing the sole-source authorization for a Wendy Ware contract to the Board for consideration on July 9 (with the full contract expected by September 2024). Chair Marquez closed the item and opened general public comment before adjourning.
Ending: The committee scheduled its next meeting for July 25 at 10 a.m.; the July agenda will include the site-and-release service center report, and the sheriff is holding a Santa Rita Jail town hall the evening the meeting was held.
