The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office is one step closer to having independent oversight after the county Board of Supervisors approved the creation of an inspector general position.
A state law passed in 2020, Assembly Bill 1185, authorized counties to create inspectors general and/or citizens advisory panels with subpoena power to provide oversight of county sheriff’s offices, but Monterey County had yet to authorize such an entity.
The creation of the Inspector General’s Office was approved in a unanimous vote by the board at its regular meeting Tuesday as part of a presentation on reforms at the Sheriff’s Office that was given by Nicholas Chiulos, chief assistant county administrator.
The presentation gave updates on a series of reforms that were previously requested by the Board of Supervisors that are aimed at bolstering legal protections for undocumented residents.
The action directs staff to move forward with details of creating such a position now that the recommendation has been adopted, including hiring options and finalizing its scope, budget and mandate. The inspector general will be a hired contractor, not a county employee.
The policy updates included confirming more help would be available from the county Public Defender’s Office through a dedicated attorney, and ending the county’s participation in a data-sharing agreement with the federal government that reimbursed the Sheriff’s Office for reporting inmates at the county jail who were undocumented immigrants with prior convictions.
Creating a voice for the community
Public ire over the Sheriff’s Office’s participation in the program was one reason commenters at the Board of Supervisors meeting said the Sheriff’s Office needed an independent citizen’s oversight committee as a mechanism to express such displeasure and urge reforms.
Board members recommended that county staff draw up plans to bolster the inspector general with such a citizens advisory panel in response.
Staff was also directed to craft a policy that will prohibit all county employees from taking second jobs with federal immigration entities, including sheriff’s deputies and employees.
An attorney hired for a new deputy public defender position at the Public Defender’s Office who will provide legal assistance for undocumented immigrants being jailed in Monterey County was introduced and will work exclusively with clients who were not receiving adequate access to public legal defense because of their immigration status.
The attorney, Hugo Borja, is a retired San Mateo County Superior Court commissioner and former immigration attorney who served in that county’s private defender program, which provides legal counsel similar to a public defender’s office.
Basic legal support for immigrants
Borja said he will focus on providing basic legal services to immigrants who are detained, including ascertaining if clients who have been arrested by a local law enforcement agency and are awaiting a court appearance could be eligible to be released on their own recognizance while their cases progress through the legal system.
“I’m very familiar with what I need to do to help out and give out all the advice that the immigrants need,” Borja told members of the Board of Supervisors after being introduced.
The federal data-sharing agreement that reimbursed the Sheriff’s Office for reporting certain immigrant inmates is called the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, or SCAAP. It was created in 1994 and offers reimbursements for jailing people who were undocumented, jailed for at least four consecutive days, and had either two prior misdemeanors or one felony conviction in a state court.
The reimbursements were identified by board members and public commenters as voluntary collaboration with federal immigration authorities, despite Sheriff Tina Nieto’s insistence that the program had delays in data reporting of at least a year and did not provide specific identities.
The Board of Supervisors approved backfilling the Sheriff’s Office budget by about $650,000 to make up the hit it would take, but Supervisors Glenn Church and Wendy Root Askew lamented the fact that the source of the money had yet to be identified by Tuesday.
Chiulos, the chief assistant county administrator, also told the Board of Supervisors that a long-awaited financial audit of the Sheriff’s Office was delayed but would likely be produced by the end of the year.