With local jails releasing thousands of people in order to limit the spread of COVID-19 behind bars, officials are expecting hundreds of former inmates to return to Long Beach, and many of them may be homeless.
Because of that, the city is considering staffing a part-time probation officer at it’s Multi-Service Center, which is its hub for homelessness services.
The move, which is intended to help homeless ex-inmates transition back into the community, is up for debate at tonight’s City Council meeting.
“We are still open and serving people every day,” said Paul Duncan, who oversees the the Multi-Service Center as the city’s homeless services officer.
Life though, has been complicated by the coronavirus. Part of that complication includes a move to reduce the population in local jails.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the LA County Sheriff’s Department and local courts have released thousands of inmates in an attempt to avert catastrophic outbreaks in the chronically overcrowded system.
Recently, the average jail population has hovered around 12,000—significantly less than the 17,000 that was typical before the coronavirus.
To achieve that drastic drop, authorities cut bail to $0 on a host of lower-level offenses and released thousands of inmates early including many people in pretrial detention, those behind bars for technical parole violations or those with 30 days or less left on their sentences.
City officials said an estimated 660 of the people released from jail will end up returning to Long Beach. Many of them will be homeless when they get out.
“We anticipate that there could be somewhere around 25% of the people being released [who] don’t have somewhere to go,” Duncan said.
It’s not yet clear how much of a strain that may put on Long Beach’s homelessness resources, Duncan said, although it may be eased by the fact that some of the new arrivals likely have been through the Multi-Service Center before.
Regardless, Duncan said, having a staffer from the county probation department will be “greatly helpful” with tapping into county services like the Office of Diversion and Reentry, which can provide housing and other services to ex-inmates or people awaiting trial.
If approved by the City Council Tuesday, Sept. 1, the move isn’t expected to cost Long Beach any money; the officer would be employed by the probation department and staffed only part time at the Multi-Service Center.