In July, Z107.7 News aired a four-part series about the West Valley Detention Center. Inmates at the jail are offered various classes to help them transition back into society. Chris Martin is the Sheriff Department’s Inmate Services Manager who is in charge of the inmate welfare programs. She will be the guest on the Up Close show Friday. Managing editor Tami Roleff reviews some of the programs and classes available to inmates in the county jail…
West Valley Detention Center has about two dozen inmate welfare programs and classes, to include GED classes, substance abuse meetings, culinary classes, Microsoft Office Specialist certification, Teamsters apprenticeships, basic construction certifications, and parenting, family relationship, and living skills classes. The classes are designed to help inmates transition to a successful life outside of jail. The programs are paid for by the inmates themselves; every time they buy something in the jail’s commissary, the profits from the sale go into an inmate welfare fund, which the jail uses to fund the programs. But California Senate Bill 555—which has stalled in the state’s appropriation committee—may jeopardize the programs by requiring the jail’s commissaries to sell items to inmates at cost. Sheriff’s Department Inmate Services Manager Chris Martin says requiring the jail to sell items at cost to inmates would abolish the funding for these programs, thus eliminating them.
Call in to Z107.7’s Up Close Show at 10 a.m. Friday with your questions for Chris Martin about the inmate welfare programs at the county’s jails.
