Tulare County Board of Supervisors Oppose the Release of Inmates in Tulare County Jails

April 14, 2020

Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye, Chair, and Members, Judicial Council of California

455 Golden Gate Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94102-3688

Re: Emergency Rules in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic Dear Chief Justice and Members:

As elected representatives of the County of Tulare, we are writing to express our opposition to certain aspects of the "Emergency Rules" issued by the Judicial Council ("JCC") on April 6, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While we  understand and appreciate the JCC's intent and its need to assist our local courts in managing their affairs during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, we believe the JCC's Emergency Rules did not strike the right balance between public health and public safety, at least in Tulare County.

By way of background, on March 11, 2020 Tulare County' s Local Health Officer proclaimed and declared that a local health emergency now exists in the County of Tulare due to the presence of and threat posed by COVID-19. The Tulare County  Board of Supervisors unanimously ratified said proclamation at its regular meeting of March 17, 2020 and has taken all steps requested by the County Health Officer to implement and support that determination. As of the date of this letter, there are 296 positive cases of infection in Tulare County, with 13 deaths. From all publically­ available information, none of the deaths has involved Court, law enforcement, or jail personnel, or jail prisoners. In fact, the County and Tulare County Sheriff Michael Boudreaux have and continue to implement robust plans and procedures to keep our  jail inmates safe from the virus and any other threats to their health that may occur. Through these efforts, the County has protected public health while also protecting public safety by continuing to incarcerate inmates serving out their local sentences or determined to be too dangerous to release pending trial or other disposition of their cases. It is important to note that our local jails are not overcrowded and so do not pose the COVID-19 health risks to prisoners and staff that are alleged to exist in other correctional facilities.

Despite the success of our local efforts to protect both public health and public safety, by its Emergency Rule 4 the JCC has usurped local decision making and decided that potentially dangerous inmates must be released from our jail on $0 bail without regard to the threat they may pose to their victims and the general public. Rule 4 establishes a statewide "Emergency Bail Schedule" and commands all superior courts to apply that schedule by 5 p.m. on April 10, 2020 to every accused person arrested and in or held in pretrial custody within their counties. Under the "Emergency Bail Schedule, cash bail for all misdemeanors and felonies must be set at $0, with specified exceptions.

We are asking that crimes committed while out on bail be considered under the same category as the excepted offenses so that our criminal justice partners can do everything they can to protect our community during this crisis.

Thus, under the list of excepted offenses, we strongly urge you to consider adding Penal Code Section 12022.1, which addresses crimes committed while a person is out of custody either on bail or his/her own recognizance. This allegation should apply whether or not the principal charge is listed as a serious/violent or otherwise excepted offense. It does not apply to misdemeanor cases.

Additionally, we recommend Rule 4 include an exception for repeat, chronic offenders who have either a history of failures to appear or violations of probation.

In the interests of preserving public safety, we request that the JCC revisit Emergency Rule 4 and amend it to provide discretion for our local judges, in concert with local prosecutors, Probation Officers, Public Defenders, and private and conflict defense counsel, to make individualized assessments of the both the public health threat posed by COVID-19 and the threat to public and victim safety posed by the release of pretrial detainees on $0 cash bail. As presently written, Emergency Rule 4 would seem to be a prime example of a situation where one size does not fit all. Please restore to our local officials the tools they need to keep our communities truly safe in these uncertain times.