Jail-made weapons prompt revised attorney visitation rules at Monterey County Jail.

The recent discovery of “jail-made weapons” at Monterey County Jail prompted jail officials to briefly require that inmates be belly-chained during attorney visitations – a policy that triggered a backlash from some defense lawyers.

On Tuesday, Sept. 12, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office officials informed attorneys that they had found knife-like weapons made from pieces of metal removed from the ceilings at the jail’s attorney visitation rooms. That led to an emergency policy requiring that incarcerated people be belly-chained when meeting with their lawyers in those rooms.

Less than 24 hours later, jail officials informed attorneys that they were able to reposition the cuffing eyelets and had tweaked procedures to ensure incarcerated people are not left unattended – meaning that they would no longer have to be belly-chained during attorney visits.

But the move still sparked an outcry from local defense attorneys like Salinas-based William Pernik, who wrote to jail leadership on Wednesday, Sept. 13, urging them to “suspend implementation of this policy” and citing the “state and federal constitutional rights” of the jail’s incarcerated people.

MCSO Chief Deputy Garrett Sanders, who leads the department’s corrections bureau, says that the policy was meant “to give us time to address the issue” of inmates fashioning weapons out of building materials. Sanders says he consulted with Monterey County Public Defender Sue Chapman on the move, which was made before jail officials knew how quickly they would be able to reposition the eyelets to prevent handcuffed people from accessing the ceiling. Chapman confirms those discussions, saying she worked with Sanders “on a less restrictive policy to be implemented as soon as possible.”

“When time is not on your side, you make an emergency policy to make sure nobody gets hurt,” Sanders says. He adds that the jail’s incarcerated people are again able to be uncuffed at their attorney’s request during visits.