Santa Clara County jail-reform commission urges scores of changes, including seizing sheriff’s command

SAN JOSE — The jail-reform commission formed after three guards were charged with brutally murdering an inmate called on Saturday for Santa Clara County supervisors to seize control of the jails from Sheriff Laurie Smith.

In urging new leadership, the panel pointed to a broken grievance and complaint process, mismanagement of the Inmate Welfare Fund, a flawed classification system for determining where inmates are housed, a fear of retaliation among both inmates and correctional officers, and a “stunning lack of transparency.”

“We have problems in the jails with race, custody violations and deaths,” said commission member Rick Callender, vice president of the NAACP’s California-Hawaii region. “What we have is not working.”

If Smith was chagrined that the panel that she had urged creating had turned on her, it was not evident Saturday afternoon at the Board of Supervisors’ chambers, where the civilian-led Blue Ribbon Commission On Improving Custody Operations ended its six-month term.

In pushing for the establishment of the panel, Smith, a nonvoting member of the commission, said she did so “knowing there would be criticism of our operation.”

“Change of an institution the size and scope of our jails is never easy,” she said. “And it is never fast enough.”

The vote is perceived as largely symbolic because local political observers expect the Board of Supervisors will not heed the commission’s advice to end the sheriff’s control of the jails. The vast majority of sheriffs in California, including Smith, are elected officials who cannot be summarily fired. And though Santa Clara County has an unusual arrangement where the jails are jointly controlled by the sheriff and supervisors, stemming from a conflict that supervisors had with one of Smith’s predecessors, the board generally backs her.

The commission unanimously approved 121 recommendations to the board that include adequately staffing the jails, converting the currently toothless Jail Observer program into an ombudsman’s office, and detailed steps to improve mental health care.

“There’s a voice that needs to be heard, people who are dying for hope,” said Pablo Gaxiola, one of two commissioners who are former inmates. “We are on the cusp of creating change.”

Judge Stephen Manley, a commission member who runs the county’s lauded Mental Health Court, stressed that supervisors should also swiftly implement workable improvements in mental-health and medical treatment for inmates.

“There are issues that can be dealt with immediately,” said Manley, who did not agree with the majority that the jail leadership needed to be changed.

The sister of Michael Tyree, the mentally ill inmate whose beating death in August allegedly at the hands of three guards was the catalyst for the commission, expressed gratitude about the changes now being proposed.

“He would be honored by the real work that is being done in his name by this commission to make not just his death, but life, leave a lasting change,” Shannon Tyree wrote in a letter to the group.

Although the commission’s vote on the recommendations was unanimous, there was an internal debate about whether to censure Smith. In an informal straw vote submitted Friday to the board clerk via email, the 19 voting commissioners split 10-5 (four did not participate) in favor of a harshly worded condemnation of Smith and her administration, which includes corrections chief John Hirokawa. The informal vote was briefly made public Friday evening, which Assistant County Counsel Robert Coelho said was an error, adding that the vote was an informal survey of commissioners.

Commission Chairwoman LaDoris Cordell and commissioner Susan Bernardini, both retired judges, Callender and seven other commissioners who primarily work as community advocates urged the call for leadership change.

“There’s no question there’s been a huge failure in the way the jails are run,” Bernardini said. “It can only be from complete neglect and disregard.”

Commissioner Amy Le, a correctional sergeant who represents the guards’ union, opposes replacing the jail command, in spite of the union’s yearslong criticism of Smith. Le contends that when the sheriff took over the jails in 2010, she was forced by county officials to make drastic budget cuts because of the Great Recession and dealt with fierce resistance from the corrections and deputies unions.

“We should give her an opportunity to change things,” Le said.

Smith said in a statement that it was “telling” that commissioners like Le, Gaxiola and Manley, who are familiar with jail operations, did not call for new leadership.

The censure of Smith, which could have repercussions for her re-election campaign in 2018, came amid the five-term sheriff’s efforts to draw attention to her reform efforts. She quickly arrested on murder charges the guards who allegedly beat Tyree to death. She’s also made changes considered long overdue, such as providing inmates with fresh clothes more often. She has also endorsed permanent independent oversight of the jails.

Before Tyree’s death, Smith had also launched an investigation that ultimately resulted in the president of the Correctional Peace Officers Association, Lance Scimeca, being placed on administrative leave for allegedly exchanging multiple texts with other guards that contained racist slurs against blacks, Vietnamese, Latinos and Jews.

When the county said it would take two years for the county to purchase and install badly needed surveillance cameras, she went to Costco herself and bought 12 with her personal credit card — and was later reimbursed.

Smith’s longtime critics, such as the rank-and-file Deputy Sheriffs’ Association, saw the move and others like it as “theatrics disguised as reform.”

“Everyone sees that the culture needs to be changed,” said Roger Winslow, vice president of the deputies’ union. “The logical place is to start from the top.

To Supervisor Cindy Chavez, a nonvoting commissioner expected to shepherd the group’s reform recommendations at the board level, the symbolic call for ousting Smith’s supervision of the jails isn’t practical given her elected status and runs counter to the collaborative spirit of their goals.

“We’re starting to make changes to the system, and those systems were changed by bringing people in charge and engaging them with the community. Everybody needs to be at the table,” Chavez said. “Finger pointing takes a lot of time away from going in the right direction. Everybody in leadership needs to be held accountable, but accountable to do better.”

Contact Tracey Kaplan at 408-278-3482 or tkaplan@mercurynews.com.