07-035/00 Inmate Count Procedures

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department

PURPOSE OF ORDER:    

The purpose of this unit order is to establish procedures for inmate count at the North

County Correctional Facility (NCCF).

SCOPE OF ORDER:         

This order applies to all personnel assigned to and/or working at NCCF.

ORDER:

There shall be four (4) facility counts daily, which shall include one wristband count:

1. DAY SHIFT:  0600 hrs.
2. PM SHIFT:     1530 hrs.
3. PM SHIFT:     2030 hrs. (Wristband Count)
4. EM SHIFT:     0300 hrs.

INITIATING COUNT

Five (5) minutes before count, Central Control shall make the following public address (P.A.) system announcement: "Attention in the facility, attention all personnel, it is now five minutes to count. Attention all inmates, get off the phones, clear the dayrooms, and prepare yourselves for count. You now have five minutes until count".

At count time, the following P.A. announcement shall be made: “Attention in the facility. Attention all personnel. It is NOW count time. Attention all inmates. You should be fully dressed, lying face down on your racks, facing the bars, with your wristband hand out. There will be NO talking, NO eating, and ABSOLUTELY no moving about until the count has cleared. It is now COUNT

TIME….COUNT TIME….COUNT TIME”. Central Control shall then initiate three count tones and the green count lights.

INMATE RULES

During count, inmates shall:

• Be fully dressed (except for EM counts).
• Be on their assigned bunks; lying on their bunks facing the security bars, with their wristband hand out.
• Not be talking, eating, or moving about.
• Remain on their bunks until count is clear.

OUT OF COUNTS

All "out-of-counts" shall be called into the respective housing areas 30 minutes prior to count.

INMATE MOVEMENT

All inmate transfers shall cease 30 minutes prior to count.

Whenever inmates are transferred within the facility, a copy of the inmate’s non-routine transfer pass shall be hand delivered to the Inmate Processing Area (IPA) at the same time the inmate is walked to his new location.

RESPONSIBILITY FOR COUNT

The supervising line deputy (Bldg. B1) shall be responsible for maintaining an accurate and current count for their building. The Bldg. B1 shall track all inmate movement into and out of the building and complete a count sheet 30 minutes prior to the end of their shift. This sheet shall be updated as inmates are transferred.

IPA personnel shall be viewed as a resource to assist the building in clearing count. IPA personnel shall not to be utilized until other possibilities (transfers, out of counts, etc.) have been rechecked.

CONDUCTING COUNT

All rovers and the Bldg. B1 shall report to every staff station in their building or to their pre-designated staff station to assist with count. One deputy shall monitor the progress of the count and provide security from the open dorm door ensuring the door is not locked in the open position. All available building personnel shall enter the dorm and conduct count one dorm at a time. The Bldg. B1 shall supervise the deputies while they are inside the dorm and utilize the EMERCOM if needed. The rovers shall report their count to the Bldg. B1 who shall verify and record it.

The rovers shall follow the same procedures for every dorm in each staff station in the building.

Once all counts have been verified by the Bldg. B1, they shall call the IPA with a building total count.

Once the IPA ascertains the count is correct, the IPA shall make verbal notification to the watch deputy and central control.

CENTRAL CONTROL

A Central Control deputy shall announce via the P.A. when the count has cleared, then initiate one tone, and turn the count light off. The IPA shall notify Central Control when the count has cleared. The count shall not be "cleared" if any discrepancies remain unresolved.

Miscounts shall result in re-counting the dorm in question after verifying all dorm movement with the staff station officer, rechecking all out-of-count locations, and checking the Automated Justice Information System (AJIS) for court releases or inmates removed from, or added to, the dorm’s roster. The IPA count deputy shall be contacted after all other possibilities have been examined to reconcile the building’s movement records with the IPA’s count sheet.

If a miscount still occurs after verifying all movement and AJIS information pertaining to the dorm in question, then a wristband count shall be conducted.

Refer to NCCF Unit Order 08-010/00, “Escape Procedures” when an inmate has been confirmed as missing. The watch commander shall determine whether to activate the PDC Escape Plan.

INMATE PROCESSING AREA

The IPA shall keep a running total of each building count. The count deputy shall maintain a Master Movement Record (count sheet) that reflects the accurate count of each building. The count sheet shall not be updated unless the count deputy has paperwork to confirm each move. Each building shall be called prior to shift change to verify count totals and the count deputy shall complete a pass-on count sheet at 1250 hours prior to being relieved.

These Master Movement Records shall be temporarily retained in the IPA for review, if needed. The Sunday PM Shift IPA personnel shall be responsible for ensuring all Master Movement Records for the previous calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) are placed in the Admin box located in the Watch Sergeant’s office at the end of their shift. These records shall then be digitally archived by Operations personnel.

0300 HOURS COUNT

The Custody Housing Unit (CHU North) updates the NCCF’s count sheet as needed and posts it in the folder that is linked on the IPA’s web page (use the MASTER INMATE COUNT SHEET link). IPA personnel on EM shift shall open the 0300 NCCF COUNT spreadsheet from the folder linked on the IPA web page, save it to their desktop as “0300 NCCF COUNT rev082514.xlsx” or “Copy of 0300 NCCF COUNT rev082514.xlsx” (the current revision date shall be included in the title of the file), and complete the count sheet.

IPA personnel shall verify the 0300 hours count and contact the watch deputy to report the facility count. The watch deputy shall email the NCCF 0300 spreadsheet to the PMB 0300 Division Count email group. The watch deputy shall ensure the watch sergeant is CC’d in the email and subject line reads, “NCCF 0300 COUNT” or “0300 NCCF COUNT rev082514”(ensure current date is used).

The watch sergeant shall verify the 0300 HOURS COUNT email was sent and that the information sent in the official count spreadsheet matches the information included in the Watch Commander’s Log.

The IPA supervising line deputies on EM Shift (IPA B1) shall ensure IPA personnel are using the correct count sheet.

WRISTBAND COUNTS

Wristband counts shall be conducted in the same manner as regular counts, with these exceptions:

Rovers shall bring with them a copy of the computer-generated printout of inmates for that dorm. Each inmate's wristband shall be checked against the printout to insure the inmate's name, booking number and bunk location are all accurate. Rovers shall also check all wristbands for integrity, noting any discrepancies or defective wristbands on the printout.

Following count, the Bldg. B1 shall ensure rovers replace any wristbands in need of replacement. EM Shift personnel in each building shall issue these new wristbands as soon as possible at the start of their shift.