Corrections Takes a New Direction : Probation: Recently appointed head of county agency offers bold plans, faces daunting challenges.

After 17 years as the deputy director of Ventura County’s Corrections Services Agency, Frank Woodson was known to virtually everyone within the department.

Nevertheless, one of the first things he did after being named acting director last year was begin holding informal meetings with groups of lower-level employees.

“I really believe in involving people,” said Woodson, who became the county’s chief probation official on a full-time basis last month. “I want to make sure I’ve heard everybody.”

Dubbed “Coffee With Frank,” the monthly sessions give employees a chance to take their complaints, worries and suggestions directly to the top without worrying about reprisals from supervisors.

To many, the gatherings are the most visible sign of a more open management style since Woodson replaced Director Bill Forden, who retired last year.

“Now, if someone says no to your suggestions, you know why. In the past, you weren’t even sure your suggestion was heard,” said Christine Weidenheimer, who supervises the unit that prepares sentencing reports for Municipal Court.

Woodson will need all the advice he can get to respond to the myriad challenges facing his agency, which is grappling with an increased workload even as the county threatens to cut its budget.

The agency, an arm of the court system, supervises 4,000 adults and 1,500 juveniles on probation, runs two juvenile institutions and recommends sentences in nearly 7,000 court cases each year.

But by next year, some probation officers could have as many as 750 people to supervise if proposed budget cuts take effect.

Within the department, there is a widespread feeling that the Corrections Services Agency must do a better job of publicizing its work or risk losing county funding to more visible agencies.

“The people that know the most about us are the offenders we supervise, and I don’t think we can say that’s a strong constituency,” said Cal Remington, an 18-year veteran of the agency who was named deputy director last week.

As Forden’s deputy for 17 years, Woodson, 59, was instrumental in developing programs--work furlough, work release and the Juvenile Restitution Program--that won the agency a statewide reputation for innovation.

And although he originally interviewed for the director’s job in 1975 and lost out to Forden, Woodson said he never got impatient with being the No. 2 man.

“I felt what we were doing was pioneering. I never wanted to go anywhere else,” said Woodson, who lives with his wife, Jean, in Camarillo.

His experience as an insider and the agency’s track record persuaded a selection committee and the Board of Supervisors to confirm Woodson to the $89,724 post May 25.

“Frank has a wide-ranging knowledge of the economics of the office, the efficient use of personnel and the available resources,” said Steven Z. Perren, presiding judge of the Superior Court, who was on the committee.

That expertise will be tested in the coming months as Woodson steers the agency through a difficult period.

During the past three years, Corrections Services has lost 23 positions and suffered $1.7 million in budget cuts. With retirements and unfilled vacancies, however, the department has not laid off anyone.

But this year, the department faces $594,500 in additional cuts, which would mean laying off two people and eliminating eight other unfilled positions.

Those eight positions include four probation officers, two office assistants and one employee at Juvenile Hall or the Frank A. Colston Youth Center. One supervisor’s position has already been cut by merging two probation units.

This year, the department will probably be spared the brunt of the budget cuts by tapping into federal funding for juvenile programs, Remington said.

In addition, CSA brings in enough revenue to cover 30% of its budget. Inmates assigned to work furlough, work release and the juvenile restitution program all pay fees to participate rather than go to jail.

“We have to continue to be very flexible, we have to be able to change quickly and we have to be able to continue to look for new sources of revenue to support the organization,” Remington said.

Over the past three years, budget cuts have forced probation officers to take on caseloads Woodson calls “staggering.”

After this year’s cuts, officers supervising the most serious offenders are expected to have caseloads of up to 100 adults or juveniles. Those with less serious cases might handle 500 to 750 offenders.

“How in the world can a probation officer really impact the life of a probationer when they’ve got 500 of them?” asked Melanie Markley, manager of the department’s fiscal services.

The department now handles 30,000 cases a year, a third of which involve juveniles. In 10 years, the number of juvenile cases has doubled from 5,000 to 10,000.

The trend is expected to continue over the next decade as Ventura County’s teen population grows by 20% to 25%, peaking around the year 2000, Woodson said.

Since last fall, probation officers have found their caseloads filling up with a relatively new but highly visible crime: tagging.

In the past six months, juvenile citations have jumped from a monthly average of 250 to 350, largely because of graffiti vandals who commit no other crimes. “Were it not for tagging, we would not see a lot of these kids,” said Christine Settle, supervisor of the Youth Services division.

To cope with such demands, Woodson thinks the department needs to rely on new ways to keep minor offenders out of jails and institutions and give probation officers more time to monitor serious cases.

He plans to pursue two pilot projects to do that. One would use electronic bracelets to house some misdemeanor offenders at home. The other would establish an automated system to allow probationers to stay in touch with the agency without seeing a staff member.

But some in CSA don’t think change is coming fast enough. And they blame Woodson’s open style of management for delaying crucial decisions with endless committee meetings and consultations.

“It does slow down the process,” Weidenheimer said. “The end result might turn out to be better, but getting there has just been a real problem sometimes.”

Richard Humeston, Juvenile Hall director, agreed. “Because he’s so willing to include everyone, sometimes it’s very difficult to reach decisions.”

Woodson concedes that his way may take longer but says the results will be better for the department.

“I want to make sure whatever course of action we take is the appropriate one,” he said. “Some people just want to make snap judgments on everything, and then you have to pick up the pieces.”

Another issue that has stirred debate: whether to arm probation officers.

Privately, some probation officers say they don’t feel they can do their jobs thoroughly and safely without a gun.

Officers who advocate arming themselves point to their counterparts in Santa Barbara County, where 15 probation officers who supervise the most serious cases are allowed to carry firearms.

Craig Hamlin, deputy chief probation officer in Santa Barbara County, said his department established its weapons policy more than a decade ago.

In Ventura County, however, probation officers are not likely to take up arms. Woodson supports the policy established by former director Forden.

“My feeling was that staff needed to rely more on their wits than on their hardware to handle volatile situations,” Forden said. “If we couldn’t, we needed to back out of that and let police handle it.”

Woodson said he does support looking into other equipment options for probation officers, such as pepper spray and newer radios.

Beyond workloads and budget woes, many staffers think the agency is suffering from a lack of exposure. Unlike the courts and the Sheriff’s Department, the department’s work is often hidden from public view.

“You turn on the television and you have the police shows and district attorneys’ shows,” Remington said. “You can’t find a weekly television series on the probation officers.”

It’s likely that to some extent, the agency’s obscurity stems from the broad range of programs under its umbrella, Woodson said. “People need to know that Corrections Services is broader than probation,” he said.

To convey that, he plans to encourage staff to be more open with the media and speak to service clubs and other groups.

Even before he came to Ventura County 18 years ago, Woodson was shooting for a top job in the corrections field. “My goal was to become director of the California Youth Authority.”

That ambition was sparked when Woodson was a junior at Cal State Long Beach. Under the influence of a professor who had once been a New York state parole official, he switched his major from business administration to sociology.

Later, he earned a master’s degree in social work from USC.

“My idea was to prepare myself to work with people, to provide people with an opportunity to improve their lives.”

After 35 years in the field, that philosophy still drives his work.