A peek behind the scenes of the Monterey County Jail amid financial concerns
Scott Rates
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION) – As the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office faces a financial shortfall, KION took a peek behind the scenes at the current conditions of the Monterey County Jail.
In a court ruling, the Hernandez settlement was signed on May 7, 2015. As part of said settlement, the jail is required to improve its mental and physical healthcare, living conditions, and protection of incarcerated people.
Since Sheriff Tina Nieto took office in January of 2023, there have been eight deaths, two occurring this year.
Sheriff Nieto addressed the recent homicide and other challenges ahead.
“The Hernandez settlement has always been important to me because there are a few things that we promised as a county,” Sheriff Nieto said.
The Monterey County Jail has seen its fair share of incidents over the past 10 years.
“The men and woman here in Monterey County work really hard, they are trying to do the right thing, but it’s hard when you don’t get the backing from the board of supervisors,” says Sheriff Nieto.
On January 14, a woman inmate died of fentanyl. On March 30, investigators say an inmate was attacked and killed by another inmate.
KION obtained an email sent to all jail staff from March 29 stating that they were experiencing a severe staff shortage that could impact housing units.
A schedule shows that on the morning of the deadly attack, multiple control towers were unmanned. Despite that, the sheriff says the incident had…
“Zero to do with staffing, as the D.A. brings the case forward, we are going to see more about it. I know personally, I have watched the video it wasn’t a staffing issue, Sherif Nieto said. “I don’t want inmates to be murdered in my jail, I don’t want them to pass away in my jail, so we have put a lot of things in place.”
I walked around the jail with the sheriff, I was shown several new additions. Things like two new body scanners to detect drugs, a drug-sniffing dog, new break areas for staff, and a new program aimed at reducing recidivism.
One of the biggest concerns is the budget.
“Let me give you an example of stuff I asked that are not included in the upcoming budget, is the body-worn cameras. They’re funding part of it, but they’re not funding all of it. Does that mean that we don’t use them? Or we don’t repair them, or take them out of the jail?” Sheriff Nieto said.
The county of Monterey is forecasting a $43.3 million deficit in fiscal year 2025-26.
That deficit will grow to $67.4 million and $93.6 million in 2026-27 and 2027-28 fiscal years respectively.
“I am not confident that I am not going to get what I asked for, and I am pretty confident that we are going to have to reduce services based on that,” Sheriff Nieto said. “One of the arguments was well, sheriff you are asking for all this money, my reply back to the board was yes, because we gave these raises as a county. We all agreed that livable wages were important to our county. Of course, my request went up if I am just going to keep baseline.”
As for some impacts that would happen if budget needs are not met.
“I may have to close substations, I have a sub-station out in monterey, and then have a station in salinas, I may have to pull everyone back in and we all are going to be responding to our almost 4,000 square miles county,” Sheriff Nieto said.
And the possible release of inmates.
“I am going to have to sit down with the presiding judge and say I can only hold this many people because this is my restraints. The budget whatever, I can’t hire these people, who do you want to let go?” Sheriff Nieto says.
In regards to how concerned they should be over the possibility of the budgetary needs not being met, Sheriff Nieto said, “they should be very concerned.”
Budget battle in Monterey County after Sheriff’s Office requests $6.4 million
MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. (KION-TV) — The Board of Supervisors discussed the budgetary needs of several departments, including the Sheriff’s Office, which came forward asking for millions in additional funding.
With just 4.3 million dollars to spread across various departments in Monterey County, MCSO alone is asking for 6.4 million in additional funds.
“There’s just no way we’re gonna satisfy everybody, including the sheriff or any of the other departments,” said Monterey County Supervisor Glen Church.
According to Supervisor Wendy Root Askew, over the last 3 years, the county has increased the sheriff’s budget by over 30 million.
“The sheriff continues to ask for what she needs to provide those services. There’s a limit to what taxpayer dollars will be able to provide for,” said Askew.
The current baseline budget for the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office is $171.8 million, asking for an adjustment to $178.2 million.
The Sheriff’s Office says it will fill 28 vacant positions and purchase body cams with the additional 6.4 million.
The Sheriff’s Office spoke on what could happen if the funding doesn’t get the green light.
“We could see a reduction in the actual amount of patrol cars patrolling the streets countywide. We can see extended patrol response times due to the countywide, due to the longer distance that they’re traveling. We could extreme delay or non-response to low priority calls such as food vendors, such as noise complaints, such as things of that nature,” says Boyd.
However, the request from the Sheriff’s Office is not sitting right with the Monterey County Deputy Sheriffs Association.
“For the upcoming fiscal year, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office has been allocated a budget of $171.8 million. Before we can responsibly support an increase beyond that amount, we believe a clear and detailed explanation of the need for additional funds is necessary,” said Sarah Jackson, Secretary with the Monterey County Deputy Sheriffs’ Association. “After much consideration, both boards unanimously agreed that we cannot follow Sheriff Nieto’s recommendation.”
The county will find a way to fund the jail’s $7.2 million healthcare services by the end of this year.
In a joint letter from the Deputy Sheriff’s Association (DSA) of Monterey County and COMPA (County of Monterey Patrol Association) Board of Directors on May 28, neither associations say that they were provided “sufficient information to publicly support this budget request.”
See the full letter below:
Joint Statement from the DSA and COMPA Boards of Directors (1)Download
Jesus Tejeda