Policy Text
Page 1 of 5 1/22 (REV 4/09)
Inmate Welfare Fund Expenditure
The purpose of this General Order i s to establish a monitoring procedure for the
expenditure of inmat e welfare funds and to maintain compliance with Penal Code
Section 4025, Store, Operation of, in County Jails and Adult Detention Homes.
I. General
A. Penal Code Section 4025 (a), (b), and (c) authorizes that “t he sheriff of
each county may establish, maint ain, and operate a store in con nection
with the county jail and for this purpose may purchase [goods, articles and
supplies] and sell these goods, art icles and supplies for cash to inmates in
the jail.” “Any profit shall be deposited in an inmate welfare fund to be
kept in the treasury of the c ounty.” “The money and property d eposited in
the inmate welfare fund shall be expended by the sheriff primar ily for the
benefit, education, and welfare o f the inmates confined within the jail.”
B. To ensure an equitable procedur e of authorizing expenditures from the
Inmate Welfare Fund (IWF), a co mmittee hereafter referred to as the
Inmate Welfare Fund Committee, s hall review all requests for fu nding and
expenditures and make a recom mendation on each to the Chief Dep uty of
Correctional and Court Services. Exception to the review proce dure shall
be purchases on limited purchase orders, contract shipping orde rs, or
orders for items for re-sale in the inmate stores.
II. Procedure
A. The IWF committee shall be comp rised of five voting members and shall
consist of the following per sonnel or their designee:
1. IWF Committee Chairman: Assi stant to the Chief Deputy of
Correctional and Court Services
2. Chief of the Administrative Division 3. Assistant Commander of t he Main Jail Division
4. Assistant Commander of Rio C osumnes Correctional Center
(RCCC)
5. Assistant Commander of the Work Release Division
When necessary for legal or procedur al guidance the Department legal
advisor, county counsel, or member s of the auditor’s staff may be queried
in writing or invited to att end an IWF committee meeting.
Page 2 of 5 1/22 (REV 4/09)
In addition, the appropriate div ision budget coordinator from e ach
correctional facility may be called upon to present and address any IWF
budget issues or concerns to the IW F committee, however, the di vision
budget coordinator will not hav e any voting privileges.
B. The IWF committee shall meet a minimum of once a year. Three members
in physical attendance at the commencement of a meeting shall c onstitute
a quorum. A majority in agreemen t is necessary to authorize a
recommendation or request for funding.
If a recommendation or request is denied, it may be appealed to the Chief
Deputy of Correctiona l and Court Services.
III. Preparation
A. The Inmate Welfare Fund budget fo r each facility shall be op erational by
July 1st of each fiscal year. The follo wing dates are to be used as
guidelines for timely preparati on and submission of IWF budgets :
March 15 The Main Jail, RCCC, and Work Release Division Assista nt
Commanders will provide to t heir Commanders a proposed
IWF budget, which the Commanders will review and approve.
April 15 Once approved by the fa cility commanders, each facilit y IWF
budget is submitted to an Admini strative Division Senior
Accountant who will compile the three budgets into one
proposed IWF budget document.
May 1 All IWF committee members receive copies for review of th e
proposed facility IWF budgets and the compiled IWF budget
document.
May 15 An IWF committee meeting is held to review and discuss t he
proposed facility IWF budgets . The committee members
create the department’s overall IWF budget.
June 15 The Department’s IWF budge t will be submitted to the IW F
committee chairperson for c onfirmation and then forwarded
to the Chief Deputy of Correct ional and Court Services for
review and approval.
July 1 The Department’s IWF budget is effective.
B. If the need arises for an exp edient or emergency request, it may be
handled by one of two procedures.
Page 3 of 5 1/22 (REV 4/09) 1. The request may be given to t he respective Assistant Command er
who will forward it to the IWF committee chairperson. The
chairperson will prepa re the necessary documents and circulate
their request to the IWF committe e members. The IWF committee
members will sign the request for denial or approval and prompt ly
return it to the IWF committee chairperson.
2. If the request requires immedi ate review the Assistant Comma nder
may, through the chain of comm and, petition the Chief Deputy of
Correctional and Court Service s for immediate approval.
C. At the end of each fiscal year , the Department’s administrat ive senior
accountant shall be responsible to for the preparation of an an nual report
of IWF income and expenditures. Upon approval by the Chief Dep uty of
Correctional and Court Services, the report shall be presented to the
Sheriff to be forwarded to the County Board of Supervisors.
Copies will also be forwarded