Jessica Cejnar Andrews / Friday, July 28, 2023 @ 12:27 p.m. / Jail, Youth
Del Norte's Chief Probation Officer Says He Won't Be Able to Close Juvenile Detention on Aug. 4
Image courtesy of the Del Norte County Probation Department
Del Norte County’s chief probation officer changed the “go-live date” he gave for transitioning the community’s juvenile detention facility to a new Youth Opportunity Center.
Lonnie Reyman had hoped to have his re-entry team in place by Aug. 4. On Tuesday, however, he told supervisors that wasn’t going to happen. He didn’t give supervisors a new date, but said he has had productive conversations with the Del Norte Employees Association, the union that represents probation staff.
Reyman said he’s working with the Del Norte Employees Association on a side letter and a memorandum of understanding for the new positions at juvenile hall.
“My hope is we should have something to you by the next meeting in relation to those positions that we’ll be creating for the re-entry officers,” Reyman said. “I will tamp my enthusiasm and not give you a date right now, but that’ll be coming.”
Reyman said he hopes to be able to have a mechanism in place for existing staff to transition to the re-entry team by the Board of Supervisors’ Aug. 8 meeting, along with more details on the timeline for the transition.
Reyman said he and his team are also working on the referral process for youth and their families.
“We’re trying to finalize those documents and pieces so that internally, once we get those calls — either walk-ins from kids and their families or calls from outside agencies and entities, saying, ‘Hey, we have this kid and their family we think might benefit from these services,’ — we’ll have those things ready to roll,” the chief probation officer told supervisors.
On Friday, Reyman told the Wild Rivers Outpost that his goal is to ask the Board of Supervisors for a hard closure date in September.
Currently four Del Norte County offenders are incarcerated at the Humboldt County juvenile detention center, Reyman said. One youth was transferred up from Santa Barbara and will be in court this week.
The court is also still assigning weekend commitments to local juvenile offenders, according to Reyman.
Reyman said Facility Manager Jordan Anderson and Emily Johnson, supervisor of juvenile services, is communicating with Humboldt County juvenile hall staff on a weekly basis.
Del Norte Employees Association President Norma Williams acknowledged reaching a tentative agreement with the chief probation officer in a side letter. But, she said, the union is still waiting to see the actual language and the transition plan.
“Something we did discuss, one of the articles in our contract deals with with layoffs and employees being able to avail themselves of services for, hopefully, continued employment,” she told supervisors. “That is a concern to the union and so we’re waiting to see the language on that. If there are any hiccups in the process during the transition or in the timeline, the union will always be open to discuss it again with the county, even with the chief, to iron out any issues and make sure any transition happens as smoothly as possible.”
In addition to negotiating with the employees’ union, the county is making upgrades to the juvenile hall building itself. This includes a new paint job, flooring, furniture and decor — “things to make it welcoming rather than an institution,” Reyman said. Changes to the facility’s doors is one of the more complicated pieces, he said.
“We’ll not swap out our doors until we’re closed as a custody institution,” Reyman said. “And then (we’re) figuring out how to manage access through the facility so we have some control and people can’t wander into whatever corner they’re in and we have easy egress when that’s needed.”
Meanwhile, the Del Norte County Probation Department was awarded $3 million in Proposition 64 Public Health & Safety grant dollars from the Board of State and Community Corrections. This five-year grant comes from the state referendum that legalized marijuana sales in California. According to Reyman, one of the things it can be used for is youth education.
Reyman said he envisions using grant dollars for youth that are on supervision as well as for those who are at risk.
Reyman’s recommendation to close the juvenile detention facility came in October 2022. At the time, he told supervisors his department was unable to meet state staffing requirements. The facility has been operating as a special purpose juvenile hall since January after Reyman told supervisors he only had enough staff to operate the facility about 90 hours a week.
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