Crowded Jail to Refuse State, Federal Inmates

Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates on Tuesday told federal and state prison officials that he will no longer accept their inmates at the Orange County Jail as one step in response to a court order that he reduce jail overcrowding.

Gates also said his staff is compiling a list of inmates who would present the least risk to the public if he has to ask Orange County Superior Court to release prisoners to reduce overcrowding. Gates said he would submit the list to the court “only as a last resort.”

U.S. District Judge William P. Gray in Los Angeles Monday found Gates and the five county supervisors in criminal contempt for not complying with his 1978 order that all inmates at the men’s jail be provided a bunk or bed. The jail’s official capacity is 1,191, and it has bunks for 1,530. But its daily population is usually at least 2,000.

County Fined $50,000

Gray also fined the county $50,000, plus $10 per day for each inmate who has to sleep on the floor more than one night. Gray stayed the $10 per-day order for 60 days to give Gates time to try to reduce the population in the men’s jail. Gray also said that he will appoint a special master to monitor jail operations.

In an interview, Gates said it is “a sad day when the sheriff and the Board of Supervisors are doing everything they can to solve problems and a judge can still find them in criminal contempt. A sheriff could end up a prisoner in his own jail. That’s a sad situation.”

As many as 100 federal and state prisoners are held in the County Jail each day.