JFA Team, Center for Court Innovation and the TTA Client will collectively examine ways to provide police station representation. As a part pf this work, CCI will lead efforts in creating 1) remote learning sessions, 2) on-site needs and readiness assessment, 3) follow-up site visits 4) program and research design/technical assistance.
July 2022- December 2022: BJA approved application for TTA.
January - June 2023:Early Access to Counsel. While we've toured two police departments in the county (Santa Maria and Lompoc) and the Santa Barbara Police Department participates in planning, the pilot will start in the north branch county jail in Santa Maria.
TTA team (2 CJI staff and 1 subject matter expert) site visit to Santa Barbara County. February 8-9th; Site Visit Report completed.
stakeholder meetings
walk-through of North and South Branch County Jail
walk- through of Santa Maria and Lompoc Police Departments
North Branch Jail was selected by the planning team for the pilot. The TA team completed a process map that reflects the current booking to arraignment process and demonstrates several viable points of engagement for defense counsel staff and their clients prior to arraignment. March to June; Process Map completed. The map has been reviewed and approved by the Public Defender, Sheriff, and Pretrial Services.
Meetings scheduled for June 29th to review the site visit report and process map with the larger stakeholder team and then community groups.
Jul-Dec. 2023: Reporting Period: July 1 2023 to December 31 2023
• Conducted follow-up meetings with specific stakeholder groups to solicit feedback on and update on the progress of proposed plan for early access to counsel. Met with:
o Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office,
o Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, and
o Santa Barbara county community organizations.
• Met with lead attorney from north office of the Santa Barbara Public Defender’s Office to gather information about north county culture, i.e. current arraignment process, interaction between public defenders and district attorneys, and interaction with judiciary, and to prepare to develop the early access workflow.
• Consulted with early access programs in Santa Clara, California and Milwaukee, Wisconsin to determine existing practices implemented in early access programs.
o Developed document with high-level takeaways from meeting Santa Clara County Public Defender’s Office Pre-Arraignment Representation and Review Unit (PARR) based on gathered information in support of the Santa Barbara County Public Defender’s Office developing workflow for early access to counsel at their Northern Branch Jail.
• Developed & refined preliminary workflow for early access to counsel in North Branch Jail.
• Reviewed program performance metrics
• Developed powerpoint, supporting summarizing documents, and presented on early access data for the California Office of the State Public Defender’s Indigent Defense Improvement Division Freedom Advocacy Conference. The Conference included staff from the Santa Barbara County Public Defender's Office.
• Attended various presentations about early access to counsel programs throughout the state of California at the Office of the State Public Defender’s Indigent Defense Improvement Division Freedom Advocacy Conference to inform continued support to the Santa Barbara County Public Defender's Office.
• TTA team (1 CJI staff and 1 subject matter expert) site visit to Santa Barbara County. December 12-13th; Site Visit
o stakeholder meetings (staff, north office of the Santa Barbara Public Defender’s Office, County Executive Office, north office of the Santa Barbara Public Defender’s Office, Superior Court of California staff)
o walk-through of Northern Branch County Jail
• Supported site in developing intake checklist for early access program.
Jan-June 2024: CJI has taken over this project. The below summarizes the work up until March 2024:
Summary of Training and Technical Assistance Support: Santa
Barbara Public Defender’s Office, Early Access to Counsel
Overview
Beginning September 2022, the Santa Barbara Public Defender’s Office, with support from the
Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), received technical assistance (TA) support from the Center
for Justice Innovation (the Center) and a subject-matter expert (SME) to design a plan for
pre-arraignment access to counsel for Santa Barbara County at-large. The Center supported
developing and piloting the Sant Barbara Public Defender’s Office pre-arraignment access to
counsel program, Reentry, Early Access, and Diversion for You (READY). The READY program
launched in January 2024 and connects individuals in jail with an attorney and, if applicable, to
services within the community to decrease pretrial incarceration and its effects.
Technical Assistance Support Activities & Materials Developed
Throughout the technical assistance, the Center’s attorney-practitioners and SME engaged in
several activities to support the development of the early access pilot, including:
1. Conducted two in-person site visits (see attachment A for the February 2023 and
December 2023 site visit agendas, and see attachment B for the February 2023 site visit
report),
2. Supported stakeholder engagement,
3. Developed an arrest to arraignment process map (see attachment C for the final arrest
to arraignment process map),
4. Developed a draft pilot plan for the early access program (see attachment D for the
updated early access pilot plan), and
5. Developed a draft intake checklist for the pilot early access program (see attachment E
for the draft early access program intake checklist).
Next Steps
The Santa Barbara Public Defender’s Office will continue implementing the READY early
access program in the North Branch Jail. During the pilot phase, the Office will collect data to
measure short-term outcomes of implementing the READY program in the North Branch Jail.
The Office will also determine the feasibility of expanding the READY program to the city of
Lompoc’s jail and the South Branch Jail of Santa Barbara County.
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