Why Not Civilians as Jailers?

Earlier this month, as part of the court-ordered effort to remedy overcrowding at the Orange County Jail, the Board of Supervisors voted to spend $919,699 to hire 57 more people for the Sheriff’s Department. Most of the new positions will be filled by full-fledged sheriff’s deputies who will be assigned to help oversee prisoners who are moved to branch jails. And on Tuesday the board approved another $2.2 million for 67 more branch jail personnel.

We don’t question that the sheriff needs more personnel in the jails. We do question, as we have in the past, that Orange County must continue to use deputies when the job can be done just as efficiently and safely and more economically with civilian corrections officers.

A county grand jury panel 11 years ago even suggested the formation of a county department of correctional services. That may have meant overcorrecting, but at least the jury was on the right track.

It looks as if the county board is finally seeing the light, too. At the urging of Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, the board has ordered a study to see whether jail costs can be reduced by replacing all or some of the sheriff’s deputies at the jail with civilian corrections officers.

The Sheriff’s Department, which operates the county jail system, now uses deputies trained as patrol officers in the jails. After graduation from the academy they are required to serve as jailers for several years before they are put out in patrol cars. Most other counties in California, as an Orange County staff study showed, use a combination of deputies and civilians hired and trained specifically to supervise prisoners. The approach saves money without sacrificing security.

We don’t understand why in Orange County minimum-security prisoners in branch facilities, or even in the main County Jail, continue to require sworn officers as jailers.

It would be better if civilian officers who want to work in correctional facilities were used in the jails. There would be fewer frustrated deputies who, like the prisoners, serve their “jail” time counting the days to release. And the money saved by replacing deputies with professional jailers could be better used for fighting crime--and for the jail improvements that the county is under a court mandate to make.