Debriefer visited Sonoma County’s Main Adult Detention Facility (MADF) in Santa Rosa this past week for a tour of the jail and to check out the 10th anniversary commemoration of a touted in-jail program called Starting Point.

Local criminal justice leaders and pols were on hand, including Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo and Sonoma County Sheriff Steve Freitas. They toured a jail module that houses female inmates.

Starting Point aims to reduce recidivism through a multi-point approach. It teaches life skills, GED classes, parenting classes and addiction treatment at the 1,000-bed jail.

Jail officials report that the program has had 4,000 people go through it in 10 years, and just about half of the graduates have never been re-arrested. Typical rates of recidivist inmate populations run around 75 percent nationally, they noted.

Carrillo was one of several speakers to address the group of women—a mixed group of ages and races, many taking notes, a few with scary neck tattoos—and said the day was also memorable for him: “Sixteen months ago today, I was arrested,” he said.

He said he was at the Starting Point ceremony in two capacities: as a member of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors which “understands the value” of the program (and funds it), and as a recovering alcoholic.

It was a poignant moment. Carrillo’s arrest date coincides with his sobriety date, and there he was, the only Sonoma County supervisor who showed up (another sent a staffer) to lend support to the incarcerated women.

Carrillo had been briefly locked up at the MADF in July 2013, after entering a neighboring woman’s property while intoxicated. A jury found him not guilty on a “peeking” charge earlier this year—and Carrillo, citing a family history of alcoholism, now says he “sees addiction from a whole different perspective. I was too arrogant.”

A graduate of the program named Lynn also spoke. She addressed the women with the familiar, “Hi, I’m Lynn, and I’m an addict,” and they welcomed her with gusto.

Lynn reported that her life was a mess when she arrived at the MADF four years ago. “I was the kind of addict that abandoned her children,” she said. “I ended up in places I never thought I’d end up.”

Now Lynn is clean and sober, “and it all started here,” she told the women. Many nodded at the encouragement and supportive words; others stared off into a distance only they could see.

Debriefer was at the jail because this paper recently reported on a trio of deaths that took place there over three weeks earlier this fall. After the Starting Point event, we caught up with Assistant Sheriff Randall Walker in the hallway for an update on the investigation.

Walker runs the jail and so far, he says, the investigations into the deaths have turned up nothing that might connect them.

One of the people who died was Rhonda Jo Everson, whose never got the chance for a new starting point. Her endpoint was in a solitary cell used for inmates undergoing withdrawal from drug use.

The State Board of Corrections, Walker said, will be part of the investigation and will “look at everything” at the jail to help determine if there’s any connection between the deaths. “We don’t ever accept it. It’s our job not to ever have that happen.”

Tomales Bay is calm as our kayaks head swiftly and silently northward toward the mouth of the bay. It’s about 10pm on a moonless and cloudless night in July, and we three kayakers hug the shore as we paddle in the dark, in search of the seasonal nocturnal light show—marine bioluminescence.

Disturbing the water as we paddle, we begin to see a whitish-blue glow, as if the paddle has somehow become lit. Looking to the rear of my kayak, I see that the wake from my boat is also glowing and luminous. We come around a point to a particularly dark bay with almost no ambient light pollution, and then the show begins in earnest.

“Look at the kelp!” I shout to my paddling buddies. “It looks like rope-lights.”

We look into the sea below and see many luminous light trails from small darting fish. As we paddle on, a large fish leaves a broad trail of light about three feet down below us. Further on, a school of small fish looks like a submerged, glowing cloud.

A tiny organism called a dinoflagellate is responsible for the bioluminescence. This single-celled phytoplankton is found in marine environments throughout the world, with population sizes varying seasonally as a result of the effects of water temperature, salinity and depth. Given predicted weather patterns and location, there are certain times of the year in most ocean environments when one can reliably expect to find spectacular bioluminescence. There are some locations worldwide where ocean conditions consistently promote dinoflagellate growth, such as Puerto Rico’s Mosquito Bay.

In Northern California, in a typical year of average weather conditions, July-September are the best times to view bioluminescence. Given the unusual weather patterns that have generated our current drought, local outfitters such as Blue Waters Kayaks in Marin are finding bioluminescence present almost year-round.

Bioluminescence is not only beautiful to behold—it’s almost a spiritual experience—it has also come to be regarded as a very useful tool in a wide variety of contemporary scientific research communities. In 2008, the Nobel prize in chemistry went to two U.S. scientists and a U.S.-based Japanese researcher for discovering and developing a glowing green protein called green fluorescent protein (GFP), the source of bioluminescence in some jellyfish.

Labeling metastasizing cancer cells in laboratory animals with bioluminescent markers has made it easier for researchers to chart the course of the malignant cell. Bioluminescent markers are now also incorporated into the genes of some plants for purposes such as water conservation. The plant becomes bioluminescent only when it needs water.

In most of the vast volume of the ocean, bioluminescence is the primary source of light. Terrestrially, fireflies are the most commonly observed source of bioluminescence. So while relatively common in nature, it is relatively uncommon to find a northern California resident who has actually experienced it along the Marin or Sonoma coast.

Blue Waters Kayaking offers guided bioluminescent tours in Tomales Bay. www.bluewaterskayaking.com. 415.6692600. Three-hour guided bioluminescent tours are $78 per person.