Gates Answers Judge’s Threat on Jail Crowding

Sheriff Brad Gates said Tuesday that a federal judge, threatening him with court action because hundreds of jail prisoners must sleep on the floor, is ignoring the county’s efforts to alleviate jail overcrowding.

“We’re between a rock and a hard spot,” Gates said. “I would hope the judge would be practical and look at our efforts, at our record.”

A 1978 court order required that all inmates have a bed or bunk. On Monday, U.S. District Judge William Gray ordered the sheriff and the Orange County Board of Supervisors to show cause why they should not be held in contempt of court for allowing inmates to sleep on mattresses. Gray set the hearing for March 18 in Los Angeles.

ACLU in Case

During the brief hearing, Gray heard testimony from the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the original class-action lawsuit, and from a jail inmate who said he had seen other inmates sleeping on the floor.

If the judge finds Gates and the Board of Supervisors in contempt, he can levy a heavy fine and appoint a special master to oversee the county’s jail operation and compliance with the order.

Gates, however, disputed the judge’s contention that the county has failed to do enough to alleviate the overcrowded conditions.

“I think the Board of Supervisors and I have worked extremely hard to obtain money to get this done,” Gates said. “These things cannot be done overnight.”

The sheriff also criticized the ACLU for taking sides with the inmates while he and other county officials are trying to solve the jail’s problems. He called the ACLU a “criminal lobby” that would not defend police officers when “they get beat up.”

“But they are surely there when we deal with these hardened criminals who everybody wants in jail. They belong in jail and there’s where they should be,” Gates said.

County Counsel Edward D. Duran said that Gates and the Board of Supervisors have “attempted to comply with the order. They are working diligently. But the problem has been more inmates and less money.”

Difficult to Convince Judge

Duran said it will be difficult to convince the judge of the county’s efforts.

“It was evident from the remarks that he had made up his mind. We’re going to have a tough time dissuading him (Gray),” Duran said. Gray declined to comment on the case Tuesday.

Gates’ chief assistant, Undersheriff Raul A. Ramos, said that as many as 2,150 inmates have been housed at the County Jail during the past week. The official limit is 1,247.

“The sheriff has instituted all kinds of release programs to keep the inmate population down,” Ramos said. “Every alternative to keeping (the inmates) in jail has been instituted.”

A $62-million intake-and-release facility for the county, Ramos said, will not be completed until 1987. And expansion of the existing jail is about 18 months away.

Thomas F. Riley, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, also defended Gates, saying that the sheriff has extracted $50 million in state aid to build the intake-and-release facility. Only seven other counties have succeeded in getting state funds to expand or build jail facilities, he added.

Gates, who got approval from the supervisors Tuesday to hire another 15 jail employees, said the board has been behind him in his efforts to comply with Gray’s order. But he reiterated that the legal system must bear equal responsibility for the overcrowding.

“We must protect the people and their safety,” the sheriff said. “I can’t order the judges to turn them (inmates) loose.”