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I was alarmed by Sheriff Jim Hart’s refusal to let the Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury interview inmates possibly affected by faulty mental health care in jail. Sheriff Hart’s condemnation of the job the grand jury has done “the most factually inaccurate” he’s seen makes me even more nervous.
Why is he refusing to allow the jury members to exercise their right to talk to inmates? Wouldn’t this provide a more through report and fulfill the job the grand jury is supposed to do?
We have the grand jury in our county to make sure the law is applied evenly to everyone. The way our country’s jail are used as mental health warehouses is a great shame for all of us. America is known for having one of the cruelest penal system in the world. This needs to change and change can start in local solutions.
The health care organization Wellpath apparently does not have the staff to provide the mental health services they are contracted for. This is a red flag if inmates are getting only 18 hours of care versus 24 hours. The grand jury’s claim that the jail has been improperly using solitary confinement cells as punishment, when an inmate is having a mental health crisis, is the most concerning to me. It is well documented that solitary confinement can cause permanent, harmful changes in the brain.
Is the jail using this punishment on inmates that haven’t even been convicted?
Either way this is cruel and unusual punishment. Let the grand jury have the extension of time to do the job it’s been directed to do. Santa Cruz County deserves to have a fair and humane jail serving all of its citizens.
Dee Roe
Aptos