An Open Letter to the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors,
My name is Jeff Chambliss, and I am the president of Santa Barbara Defenders, a countywide organization of more than 40 local criminal defense practitioners. I am a past president of the Santa Barbara County Bar Association, and I was previously a chief trial deputy for the Santa Barbara County Public Defender’s Office. I have been actively practicing criminal defense in this county for 30 years.
On June 10, our organization proposed that you place a moratorium on money spent on additional jail beds. Specifically, we asked that you suspend funding the North County Jail. I spoke before you yesterday and made the same request again. I explained, both in writing and orally, that the $20 million per year has better uses than incarcerating more people of color and more African Americans in particular. As you are aware, African Americans make up barely 2 percent of our population but are nearly 10 percent of our jail population. This is unacceptable. If we double our jail population, we will see a dramatic increase in incarceration at great humanitarian and financial costs to the incarcerated individuals and their families; not to mention the continuing betrayal and erosion of the public’s trust in our justice system. Your constituents of all demographics demand bold action.