Jail Services Division

The Services Division operates a 98 bed Health Services Unit. Our jail is NCCHC Certified and has been named facility of the year for 2001. Thanks to all who have made this division very successful.

Lt. Javier Gonzalez manages the security staff and the contracted services. The security staff consists of five sergeants and 23 officers. They provide security for the Health Services Unit, clinic and exam rooms, kitchen, and doctor evaluations in other areas of the jail. The contracted services consist of MHM and CANTEEN. MHM staff evaluate and treat prisoners with mental health needs. Mary Jane Fisch supervises the kitchen staff who prepare more than 40,000 meals for prisoners as well as providing 1,000+ meals for officers, on a weekly basis.

Mark Ellsworth, Health Administrator, and Jon Butterfield, Director of Nursing supervise the medical staff. The Health Services Unit provides on-site dental facilities, pharmacy, x-ray, and a CLIA certified laboratory. Prisoners are treated and evaluated by on-site physicians daily. We utilize an electronic medical record to coordinate the medical records of all prisoners. Staff consists of three nursing supervisors, sixty-eight registered nurses, one administrative secretary, three medical transcriptionists, ten medical records clerks, and three pharmacy technicians. Nurses provide screening examinations to all incoming prisoners to ensure continuity of care. Nurses provide twenty-four hour nursing and emergency care, assessing each prisoner that requests to be seen, coordinates necessary referrals to physicians, dentists, or mental health professionals. We effectively meet the medical, dental, and mental health needs of our prisoner population while significantly reducing the financial impact of these services.

Lt. Pam Lofgreen supervises the Prisoner Program Unit. The Programs Sergeant is Sgt. Raelene Eppard. Prisoner programs has been expanded to meet the ever-increasing needs of the prisoner population. Although the total number of programs offered has decreased slightly, several have been increased in both size and scope to meet the demand in self-help, educational, and addiction treatment programs. The programs staff consists of one sergeant and two civilians. They manage all programs related to incarcerations and rehabilitation.

As of July 2004, nearly 500 volunteers assisted the Jail in providing 31 separate programs. The Correctional Addiction Treatment Systems (CATS) is an in-house substance abuse program managed by Valley Mental Health. They recently expanded their program to include 32 female prisoners with the current 64 male prisoner capacity. Studies have shown that the CATS program to be highly successful, with only a 25% recidivism rate for those who complete the entire program, including the after-care portion.

Also provided are creative writing, substance abuse prevention and recovery, smoking cessation, parenting skills, money management, dance therapy, art therapy, AIDS/HIV prevention, General Equivalency Diplomas, and more. Several of these programs are funded by federal grants, and some from a portion of the Prisoner Commissary profits. 30,181 prisoners attended these programs during a total of 7,693 class sessions held in the jail during 2003. Many of the volunteers that give so much of their time and talents were honored in an appreciation social held in December. Without their dedication and community spirit we would not be able to claim the successes we have achieved.

Some of our funded programs include the GED program, which had an enrollment of 2012 prisoners. In 2003, 89 prisoners graduated with a high school equivalency diploma. Alcoholics Anonymous had 3,842 enrolled during 2003, and 284 graduated. The Jail Library checked out a total of 121,415 books during the year and the very successful CATS program had 1,094 participants and 69 that graduated from the in-custody therapeutic community.

We firmly believe these programs are a key to helping prisoners deal with issues that can result in good life choices to keep them out of jail in the future, while keeping them productively occupied during their incarceration. We know that prisoners are better able to manage themselves and all aspects of their lives as they obtain more education and interpersonal skills and then use them to obtain positive results when dealing with others, both in jail and out.

Lt. Pam Lofgreen also supervises the Alternative Incarcerations Unit. The Sheriff's Electronic Home Diversion (Shed) program, a successful alternative to incarceration, allows the Sheriff's Office to add approximately 100 prisoners to our population without occupying needed bed space. Minimum classification prisoners eligible to participate in the program worked on labor crews doing community service for a total of 99,640 hours during the year, 504 prisoners participated, an average of 89 per month, with 378 successfully completing the program. After they have worked on the labor crews a minimum of four weeks, prisoners may seek personal employment and be on home confinement when not at work. If they cannot find employment, they must continue to work with the Sheriff's Prisoner Labor Detail (SPLD). Sgt. Russ Young is the Sergeant over SHED/SPLD.

The security staff consists of five sergeants; Sgt. Gary Vlaanderen (dayshift), Sgt. David Cluff (days-afternoons split), Sgt. Paul Long (afternoon shift), Sgt. John Strong (afternoon-graveyard split) and Sgt. Brian Patrick (graveyard) and 23 officers. They maintain safety and security of this unit. This unit is a special needs unit. Prisoners in this unit require closer observation and special care. It is a short-term housing unit. Once a prisoner's condition has stabilized the prisoner returns to the general population housing. We manage an Acute Mental Health Unit, a Sub-Acute Medical/Mental Health Unit, and an Acute Medical Unit. The Acute Medical Unit is only partially opened while contracts for the medical service are pending. Our officer's provide security for the nurses, doctors, and program volunteers as needed.