Calif. sheriff asks to expand inmate surveillance

Part of those new inmates will be shunted into an expanded electronic surveillance program

October 10, 2011 06:42 AM

By Roger H. Aylworth
Chico Enterprise-Record

BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. — A state program that went into effect Oct. 1 transfers responsibility for some newly convicted felons to the Sheriff’s Office for incarceration.

Because the county jail doesn’t have bed-space for the influx of new prisoners, part of those new inmates will be shunted into an expanded electronic surveillance program.

For some years Butte County has contracted with a firm called Sentinel Offender Services to supply electronic monitoring to allow some inmates to serve their sentences at home. A report going to the supervisors for Tuesday’s meeting says the electronic surveillance program needs to grow by an estimated 700 percent.

“The Sheriff’s Office is requesting to increase the maximum payable in the existing contract by a total $500,000 to a total of $569,000 through June 30, 2013,” says the report. The money to cover the expanded contract services will come partially from the state, and also from the “inmates welfare fund.”