Jail Special Master Says Inmates Have a Right to a Bed

Lawrence G. Grossman, a warden for many of his 26 years with the federal government, has experienced overcrowded conditions in his own prisons. But Grossman says he has never asked an inmate to sleep on the floor.

“They may be criminals, but I think we’ve just got to give them at least a bed to sleep on,” he said.

Now Grossman is about to embark on a special assignment as the court-appointed special master to monitor conditions at the Orange County Jail in Santa Ana, where sometimes as many as 500 inmates sleep on the floor because there is nowhere else to put them.

Acted on Suit Brought by ACLU

Grossman was appointed special master on Monday by U.S. District Judge William P. Gray, who found Gates and the county supervisors in criminal contempt on March 18 for not complying with his seven-year-old order to alleviate overcrowded conditions at the men’s jail. Gray was acting in a class action suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The jail has a capacity of 1,191. By doubling up, officials have put in 1,530 bunks. Yet the daily inmate count is often 2,000 and more. That means hundreds of men sleep on mats in the day rooms, landing areas in front of the cells and even in the toilet areas of the county facility.

Gray levied a $50,000 fine against the county, saying the money would go toward the cost of the special master, who will report directly to the court on conditions at the jail.

Grossman, 56, who lives in Brea, said he made himself a candidate for the special master’s job because he thought his experience made him the most qualified. Since his retirement in 1981, he has been a consultant for the civil rights division of the Justice Department on jail conditions. One of his assignments has been to monitor overcrowding at a Texas prison.

“Overcrowding not only causes tension, it places a strain on the jail’s entire support system,” he said. “If the jail is overcrowded, we will have to find a way to do something about it.

But to Grossman, the “we” includes the court, himself, and Sheriff Brad Gates and his staff.

Grossman said he is convinced he will get full cooperation from Gates and is looking forward to working with Gates’ jail staff.

“This is not a case of us against the sheriff,” he said. “I look at this as a bunch of law enforcement people working together to solve a problem.”

Grossman is very much aware, however, that Gates has said publicly he would prefer no special master at all. When the judge insisted on a special master, the county’s attorneys argued in favor of someone from the state Board of Corrections who would come to Orange County once a week to monitor the daily count.

Grossman has other ideas. In an interview at his home, Grossman said he planned to be at the jail “three to four times a week to start with, and probably more than that after a while.” He canceled a trip to his former home in Lexington, Ky., and a boat cruise when he learned Gray had selected him.

Grossman expects to spend his time talking with both staff and inmates, learning the physical plant and looking over the jail’s records. He predicted his contact with Judge Gray would probably be only through his written reports to the court.

Grossman on Thursday was trying to arrange a meeting with Gates, but expects to be at the jail by early next week.

Grossman said he will be guided by his philosophy on how a jail facility should be run.

“I’m certainly not soft on crime; but you have to have the basic ingredients--a safe and humane place for the inmates to live,” Grossman said. “All jails are bad; they’re an unnatural environment. But if you don’t have a reasonable environment, you can’t help people in jail, and you can’t help them to help themselves.”

Began Prison Work in ’54

Grossman began his government service in hospital administration in the Navy. He joined the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1954 in hospital administration, then became associate warden at its prison in Fort Worth, Tex., in 1971. He became the first warden for a new federal prison in Lexington, Ky., in 1973 and stayed until 1976. Since then he’s been the warden at federal prisons at Terminal Island and Lompoc and was director for the 14-state western region for the federal prison system before retiring in 1981.

Throughout those years he was a technical adviser on local jails in several states. Grossman estimated he has seen about 40 federal prisons and more than 100 state prisons and local jails.

While he is sympathetic to inmates who have to live in overcrowded conditions, Grossman emphasizes he also empathizes with the position Gates and his staff are in.

“It’s hardest on the deputies who work on the line,” Grossman said. “The guy on the line is the busiest guy in the jail, yet he’s the only one the inmate has to turn to.”

Gray rejected recommendations from the county and from the American Civil Liberties Union, instead choosing his own special master. Grossman was recommended by the federal probation office. Grossman said he expressed his interest in the job when he read about Gray’s order in the newspaper.

Doesn’t Downplay Role

Grossman said he has no intention of telling Gates how to run the jail and will make recommendations to the judge only if Gray asks for them.

“Sheriff Gates is more than capable of running his own jail,” Grossman said.

Yet Grossman doesn’t downplay the importance of his own role, or Judge Gray’s involvement.

“In all honesty, because of the courts, there have been a lot of improvements in (prison/jail) conditions,” Grossman said. “We might have made these improvements on our own, but probably not as quick as we did.”

Other courts have appointed special masters for local jails, Grossman said, and it seemed to do some good.

“If nothing else it will give the judge an objective assessment of what the conditions are, and I can’t help but think the county will benefit from that too,” he said.