The Board of Supervisors Tuesday signed off on a mutual aid agreement between the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, permitting sheriff’s deputies to help guards at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison and Ironwood State Prison near Blythe in the event of a crisis.
In a 5-0 vote without comment, the board authorized Sheriff Chad Bianco to renew the mutual aid compact with the CDCR, which first entered into an agreement with the county in 2013.
Under the compact, deputies would respond to the two prisons, which are adjacent to one another on a 1,700-acre parcel along Wiley’s Well Road, whenever an emergency occurs for which correctional personnel aren’t equipped to “safely control the situation.”
Similarly, staff from either prison would be available to assist deputies “in the event of a disaster,” providing whatever relief that the county may need, according to the agreement.
“Extra-jurisdictional sharing of resources and capabilities is the most efficient and effective use of law enforcement resources to protect life and property,” the agreement states.
The compact does not have a sunset date.