Guard tower spacing at the proposed Otay...

Guard tower spacing at the proposed Otay Mesa prison was left undecided by the state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Prison Construction and Operations. The lack of a decision, however, may not further delay the new prison’s already-lagging construction schedule, said Dennis Dunne, the state Corrections Department’s deputy director for planning. “We have a couple of weeks to play with,” said Dunne. He explained that some preliminary grading and brush clearing at the site--for which competitive bids are awaited--could begin before decisions regarding tower spacing and fencing are complete. Prison officials provided legislators with new survey information showing that their request for guard towers 700 feet apart is close to the national average for medium and medium-to-maximum security prisons. Fewer towers would “jeopardize public safety,” prison officials said. However, committee members were also studying a report by the Assembly Office of Research showing that several states that use fewer perimeter towers, central towers only or electronic monitoring systems have escape rates that “compare favorably to California.”