$1.6 Million for Temporary Jail Housing OKd
In an effort to end overcrowding at the Orange County Jail in Santa Ana, the Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved spending $1.6 million for trailer-like temporary housing at the James A. Musick Honor Farm near El Toro.
The structures will be provided by World Hospitality Ltd. of Boardman, Ore., and will house about 460 inmates who will be transferred from the central jail.
Sheriff Brad Gates said the housing could be ready within 90 days and might be used for three or four years, until an expansion of the Musick facility for minimum-security inmates is finished.
Gates and the board were found in contempt of court on March 18 by U.S. District Judge William P. Gray for not heeding Gray’s 1978 order to improve conditions and end overcrowding at the jail.
Tours Today
Gray fined the county $50,000, plus $10 a day for each inmate forced to sleep on the floor of the jail more than one night. The judge is scheduled to tour the jail today.
Gates said plastic, 100-man tents would be erected on the Musick grounds, probably within a few days, to hold inmates transferred from the Santa Ana jail and waiting for the temporary housing to be put up.
The state Department of Corrections has rated the jail’s capacity at 1,191, but it currently has beds for approximately 1,500 inmates.
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