Add Jail Cells, Sheriff Urges

San Bernardino County Sheriff Gary Penrod appealed to the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to expand the county’s jail system, saying that overcrowding has forced him to approve the early release of nearly 250 felons per month, including drug dealers, burglars and other nonviolent criminals.

“That’s where we are today: We are completely full,” Penrod told the board. “We are releasing felons on a regular basis.”

Penrod said the jails routinely exceed capacity, forcing his staff to approve early releases, typically for those who have three to 10 days left in their sentences.

He said deputies also release people booked on warrants with a bail of $150,000 or less and inmates eligible to be released on their own recognizance pending trial. Those released on their own recognizance include those charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

Penrod said jail conditions force him each month to release about 1,500 convicted criminals and suspects who would otherwise remain behind bars.

“If we are not releasing 1,500 people per month, our jails would explode,” he told the board.

So far, Penrod said, none of the prisoners released early has been arrested for other crimes.

The sheriff warned that the county’s inmate population--now about 5,300 --is expected to grow by 2,000 by 2010.

Penrod urged the board to buy two current jail facilities in Adelanto that combined can house up to 1,500 inmates. One of the facilities, a jail operated by the city of Adelanto under contract to house up to 500 state prisoners, is available for about $8.2 million, the sheriff said. He did not cite a price for the second facility, a jail run by a private firm under contract with the state Department of Corrections to incarcerate up to 1,000 prisoners.

Penrod also suggested that the board fund construction of a 192-bed, $8.5-million dormitory at the Glen Helen Rehabilitation Center in Devore. He also pointed out that the county had previously considered building a 1,000-bed jail in the high desert for more than $97 million.

The supervisors listened but were noncommittal.

Supervisor Dennis Hansberger asked county staff to study the proposals and return with a recommendation.

San Bernardino County’s jail overcrowding isn’t unique. In Los Angeles County, Sheriff Lee Baca has sought to save money by releasing an average of 130 criminals a day from jails after they have served only a fraction of their sentences. In neighboring Riverside County, Sheriff Bob Doyle has also been forced to release hundreds of nonviolent prisoners each year.

Under terms of a 1998 lawsuit settlement, San Bernardino County agreed to provide an elevated bed for each prisoner. Before, Penrod said, prisoners were often forced to sleep on mattresses on the floor. But because of the lawsuit, the county has room for no more than 5,506 inmates. When the jail population approaches 90% capacity, Penrod is forced by the lawsuit agreement to release inmates early.

The legal agreement was the result of a lawsuit filed in 1987 by the American Civil Liberties Union to protest jail conditions.

An ACLU attorney monitors jail facilities to ensure that they meet the conditions of the settlement.