Activists push Sacramento County to consider race, equity in new criminal justice agency

Facing a federal court order to improve its jails and public demands for reform, Sacramento County wants to reorganize some of its departments under a new Public Safety and Justice Agency.

The reshuffling, if approved, will create an agency that oversees probation, the public defender system and the coroner’s office. The agency’s new head will also take the lead in working with the District Attorney’s Office and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the county’s jails.

The proposed reshuffling, which was discussed at the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, would concentrate oversight of criminal justice programs under one leader. That person would also help manage the county’s response to a federal court’s order to improve conditions of confinement and reduce the jail population “through targeted and systemic jail reduction and diversion efforts,” according to a county staff report.

The move is one of a handful of administrative changes ordered by Interim County Executive Ann Edwards, who stepped into the role late last year as her predecessor, Navdeep Gill, was under investigation.

The ordinance change would also create a new Community Services Agency, rearranging the Sacramento County Airport System under the same umbrella as the Municipal Services Agency and the Public Works and Infrastructure Agency. The proposal would also create a new community development department, which would merge the office of development and code services and the office of planning and environmental review into one.

Advocates want equity at the forefront

It’s not the first time the county has moved its criminal justice functions under one manager, but the decision sparked calls from community activists to put race and health equity at the center of its function.

In a July 26 letter to the Board of Supervisors, the advocacy group Decarcerate Sacramento asked to slow down creating the new agency to allow more community input. Several advocacy groups also called for more collaboration between the new public safety agency and social services providers

“We want to ensure that efforts to reduce the jail population aren’t solely about avoiding lawsuits but that they really have race and equity at the center,” said Courtney Hanson, a member of the advocacy group Decarcerate Sacramento.

Hanson said the community has been asking for systemic change in recent years and for the county to focus on the underlying inequities that allow some people to cycle in and out of jail, specifically people of color, the disabled and those coping with a mental illness.

“We don’t see anything in writing committing to those values but we did see the board commit to those values in their resolution from November naming racism as a public health crisis,” Hanson said. “We think this is the No. 1 project that they could apply that analysis and lens and commitment to make sure it’s successful.”

The Board of Supervisors agreed to include a resolution with the proposed ordinance change that clarifies the goals of the new public safety agency. The item is expected to come back for a final vote on Aug. 10.

“I’m very confident in my conversations with (Ann Edwards, the interim county executive) that she is committed to what we have heard from the public regarding their concerns with this new agency,” said Supervisor Rich Desmond. “I certainly support a resolution to accompany the ordinance and I’m assuming the language of the resolution will have already been memorialized in the mission, goals and objectives of this new agency.”