Panel Indirectly Backs Governor’s Prison Plan

A key legislative committee on Wednesday indirectly endorsed a Deukmejian Administration plan to build a 1,000-cell maximum-security prison on a site near Soledad Prison in Monterey County rather than in the Mojave Desert community of Adelanto.

The state Department of Corrections already has invested about $1.4 million and several years of planning in the Adelanto project. But recently aroused fears about aircraft noise from nearby George Air Force Base caused officials to seek an alternative site.

The Joint Legislative Committee on Prison Construction and Operations, which oversees the Department of Corrections, earlier had balked at the proposal to abandon the Adelanto plans until more facts could be developed.

But officials of the department Wednesday again told the committee of their fears about noise from the Air Force base. Based on informal advice from the attorney general, they said constructing the prison likely would invite a torrent of costly lawsuits from inmates and staff members alike.

Corrections Director Daniel J. McCarthy said that until last May when the aircraft noise became an issue, “I was a very strong supporter of Adelanto.” He said, however, he had become convinced that safety and security of the facility would be threatened by jet aircraft noise and that potential lawsuits would “tie us up.”

Assemblyman Richard Floyd (D-Hawthorne), a supporter of the Adelanto site, told McCarthy that “there’s going to be legal action on any site you go to” and the threat of suits shouldn’t scrap the project.

But after Wednesday’s testimony, the committee, whose actions are advisory and are not binding on the Administration, took no action to oppose the move, which was tantamount to endorsing it.

Members of the committee visited the site April 5 and held a hearing in Adelanto, whose City Council has lobbied hard for the project, including investing about $4.3 million on public works improvements in anticipation of the prison being built there.

Soledad Prison currently has a capacity of 5,800 prisoners. The proposed expansion would add 1,000 maximum-security cells and another 150 for less risky inmates.