Politics & Government

Orange County Hires New Co. To Monitor Probationers After Previous One Didn't Report Violations

The county terminated its contract with longtime vendor, Sentinel Offender Services LLC, last month because an audit found multiple issues with keeping track of convicts out of custody.

Orange County supervisors this week approved the hiring of a new company to oversee people on probation.

By a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved hiring Corrective Solutions.

The county terminated its contract with longtime vendor, Sentinel Offender Services LLC, last month because an audit found multiple issues with keeping track of convicts out of custody. CorrectiveSolutions was the second- best bidder the last time the county put out bids for the job.

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CorrectiveSolutions will stay on the job through June 30, and county officials have two one-year options.

Sentinel held the contract for 17 years, said Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who spearheaded the push for an audit of the company when he received reports of probationers repeatedly violating terms of their release, but were not reported to the Orange County Probation Department.

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The county anticipates receiving $382,555 in revenue as a result of the contract, less than the $484,570 anticipated from the agreement with Sentinel.

Spitzer pushed for county officials to seek new requests for proposals in January to "test the marketplace," because he suspects many other potential contractors backed off the last time the job was up for bid.

The other bidders might have thought Sentinel had "cornered the market" in Orange County, Spitzer said.

Chris Bieber, the deputy chief of the Probation Department, told the supervisors there are 250 people being monitored by the department.

Bieber told the supervisors that requesting another bid so soon from CorrectiveSolutions could pose a "significant burden" on the company.

Supervisor John Moorlach praised Spitzer for taking the lead on monitoring Sentinel's performance.

"I want to thank Supervisor Spitzer for doing an incredible job on this," Moorlach said.

Spitzer raised the issue of problems with Sentinel at a board meeting on June 25. The company was hired to supervise and manage convicts out of jail on electronic monitoring and home confinement programs.

Probation Department officials alerted supervisors in a written update on July 25 that they continued to have issues with Sentinel failing to track probationers with GPS devices between July 1 and July 15.

Many of the violations involved probationers who failed alcohol tests, Spitzer said.

– City News Service.


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