On June 25, 2018, the Public Protection Committee (PPC) accepted the "Racial Justice Task Force--Final Report and Recommendations," as prepared by Resource Development Associates and the committee recommended the Board of Supervisors (BOS) adopt this report and the recommendations included in the report.
On July 24, 2018, the BOS considered adopting the "Racial Justice Task Force--Final Report and Recommendations," as prepared by Resource Development Associates and decided to adopt the report and recommendations as presented, except for recommendation #18 (related to establishing an independent grievance process for individuals in custody in County adult detention facilities to report concerns related to conditions of confinement based on gender, race, religion, and national origin. This process shall not operate via the Sheriff’s Office or require any review by Sheriff’s Office staff) and recommendation #19 (related to establishing an independent monitoring body to oversee conditions of confinement in County adult detention facilities based on gender, race, religion, and national origin and report back to the Board of Supervisors.) These two recommendations were referred back to the Public Protection Committee as part of a separate referral to gather further input on these recommendations from both the Sheriff and Racial Justice Task Force. After later consideration, the Task Force ultimately concluded that due to existing legal limitations, recommendations #18 and #19 should be removed from their final report.
On August 6, 2018, the Public Protection Committee considered implementation of the Task Force Recommendations and provided the following direction:
- Staff should develop a recruitment process to seat the Racial Justice Oversight Body (RJOB) with the following representation:
- A representative from the Superior Court, as a non-voting member
- The Sheriff or his designee
- The Chief Probation Officer or his designee
- The Public Defender or her designee
- The District Attorney or her designee
- A representative from a local law enforcement agency, nominated by the Contra Costa County Police Chiefs’ Association
- A representative from the Contra Costa County Board of Education
- A representative from a School District
- A representative from Contra Costa County Health Services
- Nine community-based representatives, that include at a minimum:
- Two members of the Racial Justice Coalition,
- Two individuals with prior personal criminal or juvenile justice system involvement,
- Three representatives from community-based organizations that work with individuals in the justice system, including at least one person who works directly with youth
- One representative from a faith-based organization
- One representative that is either a school aged youth or from a CBO who provides services to school aged youth
- The process to fill the School Board representative is to be determined by current School Board representatives of the Racial Justice Task Force
- The Racial Justice Coalition will select its two representatives
- Terms on the RJOB representatives should be for two years
- Return to the Committee for consideration of the second part of the Task Force recommendation for a RJOB regarding the need for additional resources necessary to staff and facilitate the work of the RJOB.
After the Public Protection Committee met on September 10, 2018, the Racial Justice Task Force school board representatives were consulted and determined that their rotation on the RJOB should begin with Mount Diablo Unified School District, followed by West Contra Costa Unified School District, and ending with Antioch Unified School District. Based on this rotation schedule, Debra Mason was seated as the first RJOB School District representative on behalf of Mount Diablo Unified School District.
The Racial Justice Coalition subsequently contacted PPC staff and reported that their membership determined their initial two representatives on the RJOB would be Tamisha Walker and Jeff Landau. The Public Defender, Robin Lipetzky, decided to represent her office, and similarly District Attorney Diana Becton decided to represent her office. The Chief Probation Officer originally designated Director Mike Newton to be his representative, but after the Chief’s retirement the newly appoint Chief Probation Officer designated Assistant Chief Probation Officer, Melvin Russell, to be her representative. The Superior Court designated the Director of Family Law and Probate, James Paulsen, as its representative. The Sheriff designated Assistant Sheriff, John Lowden, as his representative, and the Contra Costa County Police Chiefs’ Association nominated Interim Richmond Police Chief Bisa French to be its representative.
To identify applicants for the seven remaining seats for community-based representatives, a recruitment process was initiated through a press release on September 18, 2018, and after a 7-week application period the County received a total of 14 timely applications, and one application that was received after the deadline on November 2. This late application was not forwarded to the committee for consideration.
On November 13, 2018, the PPC interviewed applicants for the seven community-based representative seats on the RJOB and recommended BOS appointment of the following individuals:
- Superior Court representative: James Paulsen, Director of Family Law and Probate
- Sheriff or designee: John Lowden, Assistant Sheriff
- Chief Probation Officer or designee: Mike Newton, Probation Director
- Public Defender or designee: Robin Lipetzky, Public Defender
- District Attorney or designee: Diana Becton, District Attorney
- Local Law Enforcement representative: Bisa French, Assistant Chief, Richmond Police Department
- Contra Costa County Office of Education representative: Lynn Mackey, Superintendent Elect
- Local School District representative: Debra Mason, Mount Diablo Unified School District
- Health Services Department representative: Dr. William Walker
- Community representatives:
- Tamisha Walker
- Jeff Landau
- Stephanie Medley
- Tammy Appling-Cabading
- Chala Bonner
- Ledamien Flowers
- Jay LeVine
- Cheryl Sudduth
- Edward Williams
On December 4, 2018, the Board of Supervisors appointed the 18 individuals recommended by the Public Protection Committee to serve on the Racial Justice Oversight Body. These appointments were to be for a two-year term commencing on January 1, 2019 and ending on December 31, 2020.
A list of all current RJOB members and their subcommittee memberships can be found in Attachment A.
On May 12, 2020, Ledamien Flowers, a Community Representative (Seat 4), notified staff of his resignation from the Racial Justice Oversight Body. Mr. Flowers was appointed to the RJOB as a resident of the City of Richmond to fill a seat as a community representative who has personally been impacted by incarceration. Staff reported the resignation of Mr. Flowers to the BOS and on June 16, 2020, the Board of Supervisors accepted the resignation of Ledamien Flowers, declared a vacancy of the RJOB Community Representative Seat 4, and directed the Clerk of the Board to post the vacancy. This now vacant Community-based Seat 4 is reserved for a representative that has prior personal criminal justice or juvenile justice involvement.
On June 22, 2020, the Public Protection Committee approved the following recruitment schedule to fill the vacancy of Community Representative Seat 4 on the RJOB:
- July 21, 2020: Final Day of the Application Period, due by 5:00 p.m.
- July 27, 2020: Public Protection Committee Meeting: Interviews
- August 4, 2020: Board of Supervisors Appointment
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