AppId is over the quota
PALM SPRINGS — A local lawyer's battle to get equal substance abuse treatment in lieu of prison time for his gay clients is moving forward through the courts.
Judge Richard Erwood is expected to receive a response from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department today that explains why it does not allow gay inmates into its Residential Substance Abuse Treatment program.
The sheriff's department was “ordered to show cause” after Roger Tansey, a Palm Springs resident and Riverside County public defender, filed a petition in January that claimed the county department has been discriminating against gay inmates who could benefit from the tax-funded program often offered as an alternative to prison.
“I'm thrilled,” Tansey said. “We won round one, so on to round two.”
Tansey can file a denial to the sheriff's department's response and from there Erwood can schedule an evidentiary hearing as early as June, which would require witness testimony.
The judge may also deny or grant Tansey's petition. Granting the petition would order the sheriff's department to provide RSAT treatment to gay inmates.
Tansey said two of his clients have been denied access to the program in the past year simply because they were identified as gay, essentially forcing them to go to prison.
Gay inmates are placed in protective custody — given blue wristbands and therefore referred to as “blue-banded” — as a standard policy, which disqualifies them for the six-month rehabilitation program.
According to the petition, Tansey is asking the court to order the sheriff's department “to establish a method of providing the RSAT program to otherwise qualified gay inmates.”
“It's not for me to tell them how to do that because they're the experts in that,” Tansey said, “but the idea is to get them to change their procedures and provide RSAT or a program like it to gay inmates in a constitutional manner.”
Sheriff's department officials contend the practice isn't targeting gays, but instead point to the very specific eligibility requirements of the program.
Inmates are assessed for RSAT by their criminal and in-custody behavior, medical and mental health history, and basic academic skills, according to the Correctional Division.
“We have 70 percent of our inmates in general population, so we're trying to do most good with what we can,” said Chief Deputy Raymond Gregory. “In jail, people are classified for their own safety. If people identify as homosexual, they're placed in protective custody for their safety.”
Tansey believes the department blue-bands gay inmates for their own safety, but contends that it's not an excuse to deny treatment to them in one form or another as an alternative to prison time.
The petition was prompted by the recent rejection of Michael Salomonson into the RSAT program.
Salomonson, of Palm Springs, was charged with attempted burglary Dec. 21. He is a chronic methamphetamine drug abuser whom Tansey requested be placed in RSAT in lieu of a two-year prison sentence.
Tansey claims Salomonson was denied because he self-identified as gay.
“By all accounts, RSAT is an effective and life-changing program for individuals — like (Salomonson) — with chronic substance abuse problems that have resulted in incarceration. Such rehabilitation is, however, unavailable to (Salomonson) due to the simple fact of his sexual orientation,” Tansey states in the petition.
According to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, 77 percent of inmates who complete the RSAT at the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning program are clean for a year.
Gregory said the department is exploring whether it can expand the RSAT program or create another program for protective custody inmates.
“If we had the resources and the space, we'd love to be able to offer it to as many people who would benefit from it,” he said. “But that could be years out, so right now we're trying to offer it to the group of inmates that is the largest classified group of inmates so that it benefits the most people.”
As an openly gay, high-ranking employee of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, Gregory said he did look at the issue “with a critical eye as to whether there had been any discrimination.”
“Mr. Salomonson wasn't discriminated against because he was homosexual,” Gregory said, “but for his classification that says he can't safely reside with the general population for treatment in that program.”
Mariecar Mendoza covers the city of Palm Springs for The Desert Sun. She can be reached at (760) 778-4669 or mariecar.mendoza@thedesertsun.com. Follow her on Twitter @TDSMarMendoza.
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