Jails: county inmate welfare funds.

Existing law provides that the sheriff of each county may maintain an inmate welfare fund to be kept in the treasury of the county into which profit from a store operated in connection with the county jail, 10% of all gross sales of inmate hobbycraft, and any rebates or commissions received from a telephone company, as specified, are required to be deposited. Existing law authorizes the sheriff to expend money from the fund to assist indigent inmates, prior to release, with clothes and transportation expenses, as specified. Existing law authorizes inmate welfare funds to be used to augment county expenses determined by the sheriff to be in the best interests of the inmates, and requires the sheriff to submit an itemized report of those expenditures annually to the board of supervisors. Existing law, until January 1, 2013, creates a pilot program that authorizes the sheriff of certain counties and the Chief of Correction of Santa Clara County to spend money from the inmate welfare fund for the purpose of assisting indigent inmates with the reentry process within 14 days after the inmate's release from the county jail or other adult detention facility, as specified. Existing law specifies that the assistance provided may include, but is not limited to, work placement, counseling, obtaining proper identification, education, and housing. This bill would extend the operation of those provisions until January 1, 2015, and would add the Counties of Marin, Napa, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura to the program. The bill would authorize the sheriffs of counties participating in the program or the county officer responsible for operating the jails, to spend money from the inmate welfare fund for the purpose of assisting indigent inmates with the reentry process within 30 days after the inmate's release from the county jail or other adult detention facility, as specified. The bill would also specify that money from the inmate welfare fund shall not be used under the pilot program to provide services that are required to be provided by the sheriff or county, as specified. The bill would require, if a county elects to participate in the pilot program, a county sheriff or county officer responsible for operating a jail to include specified additional information in the itemized report of expenditures to the board of supervisors, including the number of inmates the program served.