Orange County in Contempt on Jail Issue : Judge Levies $50,000 Fine for allowing Inmates to Sleep on Floor in Violation of 1978 Order

A federal judge in Los Angeles on Monday found the Orange County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Brad Gates in criminal contempt for violating his 1978 order requiring that all County Jail inmates be provided beds and fined the county $50,000 plus $10 per day for each inmate who sleeps on the floor more than one night.

U.S. District Judge William P. Gray stayed the $10-per-inmate fine for 60 days to give Gates and the county time to comply with his previous order.

Gray also said that he will appoint a special master to monitor operations at the men’s jail and report back to the court whether any improvements are being made. The $50,000 fine will be used to pay expenses of the master.

Gray also ordered that Gates and his staff provide whoever is appointed as special master full access to the jail and to jail records.

Capacity of 1,191

The men’s jail has a capacity of 1,191, but its daily number of inmates has totaled about 2,000 and more, according to jail officials. At present, nearly 500 inmates at the county men’s jail have been sleeping on mats on the floor because there are not enough bunks available.

Gray said he found such living conditions “intolerable.”

“As a condition of the right to detain (the inmates), we must give them a reasonably humane place of incarceration,” Gray said. “The sheriff and the Board of Supervisors intentionally violated the court’s order.”

Because of overcrowding at the jail, inmates have been forced to sleep on foam rubber mats in the dayrooms and toilet and shower areas connected to the cells. In one dayroom two weeks ago, when The Times was permitted to tour the jail, there were 72 bunks in one dormitory cell, plus 59 sleeping mats scattered about the floor of the cell and its connecting toilet-shower room and day room. There were 15 men in several of the eight-man cells.

Some inmates have had to sleep on “the beach,” the 8-foot-wide landing area which runs along the front of the dormitory cells. But jail officials say they prefer not to have inmates there because it violates the state fire code.

Through a spokesman, Gates said he would have no comment on the judge’s ruling until today.

‘Mixed Feelings’

“I have mixed feelings,” said Supervisor Bruce Nestande. “First, it was not unexpected, secondly, the penalty laid down shows some consideration for the efforts we have made, and we can apply it to the cost of solving the problem, I hear.

“The bodies that ought to be held in contempt are the bodies that pass all the laws but don’t provide the money to enforce them--in this case, the state Legislature,” Nestande said. “It’s not appropriating the funds for incarcerating all these people.”

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Richard Herman, who brought the latest action before Gray, predicted that the judge’s ruling would mean immediate improvements in living conditions at the Orange County Jail.

“I think they know the judge is serious,” Herman said.

Gray issued a sweeping order for numerous jail improvements in 1978 in a case brought by the ACLU. But the primary order was that all inmates be given an adequate place to sleep. The only exceptions, Gray ruled then, would be if the Sheriff’s Department needs to keep an inmate on the floor for one night, or if there was a “sudden and unusual intake of prisoners,” such as the result of a riot.

Gray said Monday that the county has failed to show that the present conditions fit either category.

Deputy County Counsel Edward Duran argued that the county has tried to comply with Gray’s order by planning a 380-bed intake-and-release facility next to the present County Jail in downtown Santa Ana, a 180-bed expansion at the Theo Lacy facility in Orange, and increases at the county’s James A. Musick honor farm. Part of that expansion is scheduled to be completed in 1987.

‘That’s No Answer’

“That’s no answer to a prisoner, when you have to say, ‘We can’t give you a bed’ because the state hasn’t given us the money yet,” the judge declared.

Gray said he sympathized with the county’s predicament, and added that he knew it was not Gates’ fault that so many inmates have to be in jail.

“But I haven’t heard any evidence that the sheriff went to the Board of Supervisors and said, ‘Look, I’m under this court order to provide beds for all inmates; you’ve got to give me money for a temporary facility so I can comply.’ ”

Gray gave the county 10 days to come up with a recommendation for a special master. The ACLU has already recommended Paul Sutton, a criminal justice administration professor at Cal State San Diego. But Gates opposes Sutton, who is an ACLU board member in San Diego County.

Duran said it is likely that the county will appeal Gray’s ruling. Asked if Gray’s ruling surprised him, he smiled and said, “that’s too strong a word.”

Duran argued to Gray that the issue should be only civil contempt. But Gray disagreed. The issue, Gray said, is whether Gates and the supervisors willfully disobeyed his 1978 order, which falls in the criminal contempt category.

Noncompliance Cited

The evidence, Gray said, is that the county’s noncompliance with his order has gone on at least four years.

Sheriff’s Capt. Jerry Krans, who ran the jail when the 1978 ruling was issued, said the jail did increase its bunk space from about 1,100 to 1,530 after Gray’s ruling. According to Krans and present jail commander George King, the population has been in the 2,000-per-day range at the County Jail over the last four years. But no additional bunks have been added in that time. Jail officials have argued that there simply is no more room in the jail to add bunks without reducing other services.

Duran argued that even if the county had put up a temporary facility to reduce overcrowding at the men’s jail, there would not be enough jail deputies to maintain it. There is a shortage of qualified people applying for deputy jobs, Duran said.

Gray answered that he found that argument surprising but implied that staffing might be a problem that he will have to consider in further court orders.

The judge did not order a new date for the two sides to come back to court. He said he would decide on a candidate for special master through a telephone conference with both sides.

Gray several times during Monday’s hearing interrupted Duran to disagree or to shake his head in wonder at some of Duran’s arguments. When Duran finished, Gray did not even ask Herman of the ACLU to rebut.

He Doesn’t Mind

Herman later said he didn’t mind not getting to make his argument.

“I think if we get a special master inside that jail, it’s going to make a difference,” Herman added.

Duran said the county has so far recommended as a special master Edgar Smith, who is now an assistant superintendent for the state Board of Corrections, which oversees county and city jail operations.

Herman said he would not disagree with Smith’s appointment except to say that Smith is in Sacramento and he believes that the situation requires someone who can commute to the jail each day.

Duran told the court he would submit other names beside Smith’s within the 10 days Gray allowed.

In reaction to the ruling, county Supervisor Ralph Clark said, “Rome wasn’t built in a day and in this day and age, you sure can’t build a new jail in a day, so this is a disappointment, especially because I know the county has made a good-faith effort to meet the court’s requirements. I really don’t know what a master can do that we aren’t already doing ourselves, including building two new jail facilities and searching for a suitable site for a third.”

Supervisors Chairman Thomas F. Riley said the supervisors “had already agreed that a master to respond to the judge’s concerns was, perhaps, an appropriate thing to do.”

“I’m not happy with the fine,” Riley said, “but if you are going to have a fine, to have that fine to be used to pay for the master is certainly a lot better than to have it in addition thereto. Because money is not the thing we have the most of these days.”