Title
Sheriff's Office recommending that the Board authorize the Chairman to sign Agreement for Services 206-S1011 with Legal Research Associates in an amount not to exceed $70,000 for the period January 1, 2010 through December 31, 2011, for legal research copy services for inmates of the Placerville and South Lake Tahoe Jails.
FUNDING: General Fund.
Body
BUDGET SUMMARY:
Total Estimated Cost 2 Years $70,000
Funding
Budgeted $70,000
New Funding $
Savings $
Other $
Total Funding Available $70,000
Change To Net County Cost $-0-
Fiscal Impact/Change to Net County Cost: None. This cost has been included in the Sheriff's FY 2009-10 budget.
Background: Per Title 15, Sections 1064, 1068, and 1070, and Case Law - Lewis v. Casey, and Younger v. Gilmore, the Sheriff is mandated to provide legal information to assist inmates in the preparation and filing of meaningful legal papers by providing them with adequate assistance from persons trained in the law. This service is much like the service provided by a law library. No legal counsel is being provided. We have contracted with Legal Research Associates since 2001, and this is a renewal of the ongoing contract. Previous to having this contract, we had a physical law library with law books at both jails. However, the libraries did not have cameras, so there had to be staff available to supervise inmates during these library visits. The law books were constantly being destroyed, so new books had to be purchased. It had become more costly to devote staff time to supervision, and purchasing law books than it was to provide this computer based legal information system. Using the existing County law library would have the same expense issues of supervision and having to replace destroyed property. The cost of this service has increased incrementally over the years to where the $70,000 for the two-year period of this contract is reasonable.
Reason for R...
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