County to Consider Easing Standards for Releasing Suspects

A plan is in the works to expand the detention release program at the Orange County Jail--and possibly ease its standards slightly--to help reduce the inmate population in the wake of a federal judge’s order that no more inmates will be accepted at the jail if they can’t be provided a bed after 24 hours.

Thomas F. Riley, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, on Friday called for a meeting of the county’s task force on jail overcrowding for next Wednesday to discuss ways to further reduce the inmate population, including a look at changes in detention release--the program that arranges the release of certain arrested suspects on their own recognizance or on low bail.

“The board has approved millions of dollars . . . to provide for a solution, and, as of yet, we have not been successful,” Riley said. “This cannot continue.”

U.S. District Judge William P. Gray on Thursday gave Sheriff Brad Gates 10 days to comply with his latest order.

Nearly 500 inmates were sleeping on the floor at the overcrowded men’s jail in downtown Santa Ana when Gray found the county in criminal contempt on March 18 for failing to do something about the jail crowding conditions. That number has steadily been reduced to under 50 since then, primarily through expansion at the county’s two branch jails. But Gray indicated at a hearing Tuesday that he had run out of patience with the county’s efforts to get all inmates off the floor.

On Friday, Riley said he would support any feasible plan that would satisfy Judge Gray. Expansion of detention release, Riley said, “sounds like something worth trying.”

Comply With Order

Undersheriff Raul Ramos said this week that releasing more inmates through the detention release program seems to be the best way to try to comply with Gray’s order by the Aug. 25 deadline.

Detention release officers at the jail interview each incoming arrestee to determine if he is likely to keep his scheduled court appearances. Those regarded as unlikely to skip town are often judged eligible for release on their own recognizance, or for a low bail, instead of remaining at the jail. The problem has been that there are not enough detention release officers to adequately screen all the new inmates who go to the jail, said Donald Bell, director of detention release.

“Let’s say someone is arrested at 2 a.m. Saturday, and he says he’s got a job to go to Monday morning if you release him; it takes time to check out his information,” Bell said.

If the supervisors approve, the 10-investigator program, operated by Central Municipal Court in Santa Ana, could be expanded to 16 to 18 investigators, and would include other courts and some of the city jails, Bell said.

“We won’t know how much help it will be until we do it,” Bell said. “But I would guess we could release an additional 300 inmates a month if we went countywide.”

Last month, 1,300 arrestees were kept out of the jail population by being released on their own recognizance after interviews with detention release investigators. More than 40,000 were released from jail in 1984, nearly half of them on their own recognizance and others on bail.

A Great Asset

The program was expanded in March to include one detention release investigator at West Municipal Court in Westminster. While statistics are not readily available on the effect that has had, Bell said that his office believes the additional officer has been a great asset.

“If we can get people out to the other courts, and to the city jails, we can release a lot of people before they ever get to the Orange County Jail,” Bell said.

Central Municipal Judge Gary Ryan, who oversees the detention release program, said judges are primarily concerned whether arrestees released on their own recognizance or a lower bail make their court appearances.

“Our program has less than a 5% no-show rate in that regard,” Ryan said. “That’s excellent.”

Bell added that some officials involved in meetings about detention release have discussed the idea of easing standards for who qualifies for release on his own recognizance.

‘It’s a Real Dilemma’

“Nothing is definite, but one idea was to release (customers) arrested in prostitution raids,” Bell said. “We might also take a look at some of the more minor theft cases. But it’s a real dilemma; who do you want in jail and who can be released on their own?”

Supervisor Bruce Nestande, responding to Gray’s latest order, said the county was approaching the point “where you’re almost going to have to release people from jail who ought not to be released, and that isn’t in the best interests of the public in my estimation.”

Bell has another problem that will be aggravated if the program is expanded: He can’t keep the positions filled he has now. His small staff is “as thin as you can get,” he said, because he has two positions left to be filled.

In the past five years, there has been a 140% turnover rate in detention release officers. The problem, Bell said, is low pay and the high degree of tension involved in the job. Investigators, all of whom must have a minimum of three years in police-related work and most of whom have college degrees, make from $1,900 to $2,500 a month. Most of the investigators who have left have gone to police agencies or other investigator jobs that pay $3,000 a month and more, he said.

The county personnel office is studying whether to recommend to the supervisors that the investigators in detention release get a pay increase, Bell said.