Jail making changes to prevent inmate self-harm
Apr. 23—The Yuba County Board of Supervisors last week unanimously approved an agreement with Western Valley Construction to conduct work in the Yuba County Jail to prevent inmate suicide and self-harm.
The project was prompted by an amended consent decree reached in January 2019 between Yuba County and the law firm that represents prisoners in Yuba County Jail.
The agreement required a safety assessment of the jail. The assessment determined what parts of the jail needed to be secured to not allow inmates to tie clothing to hang themselves and where other hazards in the jail were that could be used for self-harm.
Sheriff Wendell Anderson said the cost of securing the jail will be around $350,000 over the three years of the project.
"It's not going to change the layout of our jail," Anderson said.
The amended consent decree included several requirements the jail had to comply with to improve conditions in the jail.
The original case (Hedrick v. Grant) that led to the decree is from 1976 and was filed by five inmates on behalf of all inmates alleging conditions in the jail violated rights secured by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
In 1979, the Eastern District of California Court entered a consent decree covering certain aspects of jail operations including medical, mental health care, staffing, grievances and other issues.
According to court documents, in 2016, the firm representing the inmates filed a motion to enforce the consent decree after numerous claims of violations of the original decree. After alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act at the jail, the parties participated in a series of settlement conferences before agreeing to the amended consent decree.
The agreement includes a list of accessibility changes the jail was required to make and complete by specific dates.
Jail Commander Captain Allan Garza said all the required ADA changes had been made to date apart from making a shower in the B pod of the jail ADA compliant.
He said the shower must be installed by the end of 2021 and the process of securing a contractor to complete that project is underway. For the other ADA changes, Garza said the jail hit most of its deadlines but was late on some due to delays in the construction process.
In June and October 2020, the law firm representing the inmates released monitoring reports after tours of the jail that found the jail was out of compliance with parts of the amended consent decree.
The report published in October 2020 was based on a tour of the jail in July 2020 and interviews done between April and August 2020. The report found there were persistent delays in providing medical and mental health care to inmates, the jail housed inmates in administrative segregation solely due to mental illness, and the jail's psychiatry department was understaffed, along with other issues.
"There are a number of areas from the October report that are still outstanding," said Gay Grunfeld, managing partner with Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP — the firm representing the inmates.
The latest monitoring report of the jail was published on April 5. The report stated concerns over the jail using safety and sobering cells in certain cases for long-term housing of inmates with severe mental illness and inmates in need of inpatient mental health care not getting the care they need, along with other concerns.
"We're continuing to monitor conditions at the jail," Grunfeld said.
The firm represents all Yuba County Jail inmates, including ICE detainees.
"Jails are very dangerous places," Grunfeld said. "They require a tremendous effort to keep the inhabitants safe."
