At any given time, only about 11-12 percent of the people behind bars in Santa Barbara County’s two jails are women; typically, 63 percent of the female inmates are there only one day or less; only 8 percent are there 10 days or more. This population disparity skews the range of opportunities available to women inside the county jails, the Santa Barbara Grand Jury recently concluded.
The in-jail opportunities afforded female inmates by classes and work crews are less than those afforded male inmates. That’s in part because the numbers required to fill a work detail are less statistically achievable for female inmates because there are relatively so few of them.
In the Northern Branch Jail, this is especially problematic, the jury found, when it concerns classes for the installation of solar panels, a more desirable job skill given the pay involved. (The class is not offered in South County’s Main Jail on Calle Real.) The numbers required to populate a full work crew for the kitchen, for example, are harder for female inmates to reliably achieve…