A 40-page report approved by Santa Cruz County’s Criminal Justice Council in February said the county’s jails were not good settings for people with mental health needs, and highlighted a widely known need for more treatment options. 

The council convenes law enforcement and other leaders from across the county. Based on interviews with law enforcement and others in criminal justice and behavioral health, the report was the last of a four-part series authored by Watsonville-based consultant Applied Survey Research since 2021. 

Because there are not enough options for mental health and addiction treatment in Santa Cruz County, people accused of crimes are often held in the county’s 44-year-old main jail or released.

The jail is “not set up to best address” the needs of people with mental health issues, said Jennifer Anderson-Ochoa, a project manager at Applied Survey Research and one of the report’s authors. “Law enforcement expressed a high level of compassion,” she said. “They know that they’re not the right people to be responding to mental health crises and see the benefit of the co-response model.”

Some of the report’s key findings:

• Police and sheriff’s deputies should have more choices beyond booking and releasing suspects with mental health or substance use problems.
• To reduce repeat offenses, people with mental health and addiction problems need more access to support, sober living environments, transitional housing and affordable housing.
• A “burdensome administrative load” has hindered support for offenders.
• A new locked mental health treatment facility with 80 to 100 beds or a new jail could improve health outcomes and reduce criminality.

The report comes on the heels of two June 2024 Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury reports that found that inmates were being released without adequate connection to medical treatment or medication and that some people with mental health problems had been improperly isolated in custody. 

At least 13 inmates have died in Santa Cruz County Jail since 2012, and the county has been liable for at least $5.45 million in civil payouts since 2022. Use-of-force problems in jail have been described by the Santa Cruz County Office of Inspector General.

“We’re doing the best we can do with what we have,” said Santa Cruz County Sheriff Chris Clark, who has advocated for a new jail. Some inmates require round-the-clock attention, he said. “And if you can do that in a facility that’s designed more for that, it’s easier to care for that population,” Clark said.

“This is not building new jails for the sake of housing more people,” Clark said, but rather to give people “a greater chance of success once they get out.” 

Law enforcement and hospital staff typically refer people with acute mental health problems to the locked psychiatric facility Telecare at 2250 Soquel Ave. (Applied Survey Research)

Santa Cruz Main Jail and Telecare

Clark described Santa Cruz Main Jail at 259 Water St. as an aging facility that is not ideal for people with acute mental illness and drug problems. Its medical unit has 13 cells where inmates receive mental health care, and inmates also get mental health services elsewhere in the lockup. 

“I think the public would be a little taken aback by the outdated nature of the design itself,” Clark said. “We have to look at how to care for people better in custody,” he said, “so they don’t go back out and re-offend.”

The main jail’s average daily population was 249 inmates in the past 12 months, and it has a rated capacity of 319, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Telecare at 2250 Soquel Ave. in Santa Cruz is a privately run, 16-bed psychiatric health facility that is the county’s only locked treatment facility. It replaced a county-run behavioral health unit in late 2013. People who are a risk to themselves or others can be brought in for involuntary psychiatric holds. 

Telecare is sometimes full, and Santa Cruz County residents have been taken by ambulance to other locked mental health facilities in other counties.

Telecare has 16 beds, and people have been taken to facilities in other counties if it is full. (Applied Survey Research)

Treatment options

A new jail could cost $100 million to $200 million and take at least five years to build. Clark said that money for a new jail would have to come from state grants and other sources of state funding.

Not everyone is sold on a new jail. Money for a new jail or locked mental health treatment facility would be better spent on prevention, out-of-jail treatment and supportive housing — all of which are in short supply, said Santa Cruz County Public Defender Heather Rogers.

“That to me is the trifecta of a healthy, thriving community,” Rogers said. “I find it a little mind-boggling that we always jump to jail beds before we have the basics.” She added, “until you shore up the social safety net, you end up over-incarcerating, over-treating and over-confining a population that you neglected until that point.” 

Rogers said she believes that nobody emerges from jail or confinement better off. “If anything, we’ve put a Band-Aid on a gaping wound,” she said.

Santa Cruz Police Chief Bernie Escalante said that when individuals are intoxicated or undergoing a mental health emergency, police officers may not be in the best position to understand their needs. 

“I don’t know if a police officer has the time to establish that relationship with somebody,” Escalante said. Other public servants might be better placed to “get a true assessment of the issues and how to help that person be successful,” he said.

Mental health liaisons work with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. (Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office)

Santa Cruz police officers are sometimes accompanied by mental health liaisons. Since 2016, Watsonville Police also have had mental health liaisons working alongside officers to provide “much-need resources and assistance to individuals experiencing mental health crises,” Watsonville Police Chief Jorge Zamora wrote in an email.

Zamora said he’s seen firsthand “the positive impact of integrating mental health professionals into law enforcement efforts.” 

Expanding mental health services, he said, helps ensure that people “receive appropriate care rather than simply cycling through the criminal system,” in addition to reducing strain on law enforcement.

Applied Survey Research has published four reports for the Criminal Justice Council on such topics as law enforcement policy, mental health liaisons and incarceration —  and some of its recommendations are already being implemented.

Since December, for example, 24-hour, non-police response to mental health problems has been offered by calling 1-800-952-2335. Also last year, a Sobering Center re-opened across from the Main Jail and courthouse, offering an alternative to jail for those arrested for substance use crimes.

More in-county programs are now available for alleged juvenile offenders. Once completed, Harvey West Studios will provide 120 units of supportive housing. 

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