Judge Says Sheriff Fails to Understand Sentencing Methods

A high-ranking Superior Court judge on Wednesday accused Sheriff Brad Gates of failing to “understand” court sentencing procedures, a day after Gates claimed that more convicted felons should be in state prison instead of the Orange County Jail.

“I don’t think judges pay a lot of attention to the problems of the executive branch in determining the fairness of a sentence,” said Acting Superior Court Presiding Judge Richard Beacom. “It’s their (the executive branch’s) problem to provide the (jail) space.”

Meanwhile, Gates insisted Wednesday that he never intended to criticize the county’s judges when he told The Times that jail overcrowding was partly attributable to judges who treat some felonies as misdemeanors by allowing felons to serve local jail time.

Sheriff Phones Judge

He telephoned Beacom Wednesday morning to assure the judge that he had not intended to “drive a wedge” between the judges and other groups working to ease overcrowded conditions at the jail. Beacom is filling in this week for Presiding Judge Everett W. Dickey, who is on vacation.

Gates raised the sentencing issue in a Tuesday interview after he learned that The Times had obtained a copy of a new jail study.

The report, ordered by a task force appointed by the Board of Supervisors, showed that more than half of the 2,193 inmates present in the jail on March 22 were still awaiting trial or sentencing. The study also showed that 585 convicted felons were serving their sentences there instead of state prison. By comparison, 426 inmates were in the jail to serve misdemeanor sentences.

“Some of the inmates could be sentenced to state prison if the judges wanted to do that . . . . Perhaps they ought to be sending more of them to state prison,” Gates had said in Tuesday’s interview.

Gates said Wednesday that he made those comments in the context of “citing many other factors that have contributed to the problem.”

‘Making Good Decisions’

“They (the judges) continue to take all appropriate things into consideration,” Gates said Wednesday. “The crime rate is going down. They’re making good decisions . . . . But that’s not my judgment to make.

“I don’t want to drive a wedge between the judges, the district attorney and others who are working hard to resolve this problem. The bottom line is that we simply don’t have the space.”

Before the two men conferred by phone Wednesday morning, Beacom had said of Gates:

“His thinking is kind of typical of the people who don’t understand the problem. It assumes that it’s cheaper for the taxpayers to have people serve their sentences at the state level rather than the local level, it completely overlooks the facts about what is an appropriate sentence, and it ignores the fact that state government is faced with the same problem Orange County is --tremendous overcrowding.”

Beacom added, “You have to take each case on a case-by-case basis to determine the efficacy of the sentence . . . . He (Gates) implies that the judges of this county are out of line with judges in the rest of the state, and that’s not true.

‘Consistently Fair’

“It’s my impression that overall, the judges here are consistently fair in their sentencing practices,” Beacom said.

Attention has been focused on the issue of jail overcrowding because, on March 18, U.S. District Judge William P. Gray gave Gates 60 days to relieve conditions or face a $10 daily fine for each inmate who must sleep on the floor for more than one night.

Gray fined Gates and the county $50,000, and found them in criminal contempt for failure to comply with his seven-year-old order that each inmate have a bunk.

The board-appointed task force is reviewing proposals for reducing the jail population, including “sobering up stations” and early-release programs.

Special Master Named

Meanwhile, conditions at the jail are being monitored by Lawrence Grossman, former warden at the Terminal Island federal prison, who was given the assignment by Gray last month.

The 56-year-old Grossman, of Brea, a part-time consultant to the U.S. Justice Department, was named a special master to study the overcrowded conditions. His responsibilities include monitoring of inmates’ rights to eight hours of sleep each night and 15 minutes for each meal.

Grossman has said he is familiar with overcrowded jails and thinks he can have an impact at the Orange County facility. “I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with recommendations for the judge to consider,” he said after his appointment.

Grossman said 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.”