Khamis endorses both new jail and new mental health facilities, rejects Ellenberg's jailbreak arguments

In a series of dueling op-eds, Supervisor candidate Johnny Khamis took issue with Supervisor Susan Ellenberg's efforts to dramatically decrease the county jail population, efforts which are part of the radical left's decarceration movement. Instead of Ellenberg's binary approach to the issue, Khamis calls for coupling new jail and mental health facilities. Decarceration has been widely discredited as an effort that increases crime and recidivism, see nearby. Khamis' op-ed is in San Jose Spotlight, Ellenberg's in CalMatters. County supervisors are likely to vote on the fate of the county jail on January 25, 2022.

Khamis: In April 2021, our governor released 76,000 third strike offenders and local jails released thousands of criminals from COVID concerns. These changes have led to many vacancies in our once overcrowded jails. As a result, this left the Santa Clara County jails relatively empty. The Santa Clara County “South Hall Jail” with over 400 rooms was demolished in 2019.  To be built in its place, but is currently on hold, is a long-awaited state-of-the-art facility with onsite mental health services.

Are these laws we enacted endangering our communities? While I support many alternatives to incarceration, I, like our former San Jose Police Chief Eddie Garcia, think that the pendulum of justice has swung too far to the side of the criminal. How many crimes are being committed by offenders who were released early from the system under these new laws? There have been several studies about what the right size of the new county jail needs to be, yet no local study has been done on recidivism. With the continuing increase in crimes, now is the time to talk about crime and recidivism.

Is increasing our police forces truly the only answer? Are criminal punishments adequate to deter crime and encourage accountability? Many people are crying out for more law enforcement officers in our community. While there is a definite need for more law enforcement in our understaffed agencies, more police should not be the only answer. We should also look to see if punishments are adequate to deter crime and encourage accountability. We need to look at the need for modifications to laws like Prop 47. We need to demand our state leaders pass laws like the 2020 Prop. 20 ballot measure which could have fixed many problems in the criminal justice system, had it passed. We need to build the new jail that was approved and funded in 2016 and delayed by county leaders with several costly studies that all said we need a new jail.

We need to look at all reintegration programs for people leaving the jails to make sure they are working and have measurable outcomes. We need to fix the no-bail bond releasing system that puts criminals back on the streets as soon as they are apprehended, even for murder suspects.

If we remain silent about rising crime and fixing our criminal justice system, we will end up with more guns in our homes, more lawlessness on our streets and more distrust of our public servants and government. I ask our state and local elected officials to focus on solutions to the rising crime and get us some results.

Read the full Khamis op-ed here.

Ellenberg: Los Angeles County, where Supervisor Sheila Kuehl serves, is committed to alternatives to incarceration and closing, not replacing jails. 

Santa Clara County has already invested in alternatives to incarceration, including passage of a $900 million housing bond, largely for permanent, supportive housing, implementing universal basic income pilots and is working to expand access to childcare. 

For those who are struggling with serious mental illnesses, judges have already determined that many of them should be directed to treatment facilities or programs, but there are scant available slots. 

On Jan. 25, Santa Clara County Supervisors will have to decide whether to build a new “maximum security” jail with 500 mental health beds. We hope they will refuse this recommendation and continue to focus on expanding safe alternatives to incarceration while building out mental health and substance use treatment facilities.

Jail population reduction and alternatives to incarceration such as housing, addiction recovery programs, psychiatric facilities, mental health rehabilitation centers, job training and placement, and family supports are mechanisms to maintain public safety, support communities and address public health concerns while eliminating the harm many people may experience in our county jails.

Read the whole Ellenberg op-ed here.

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