More Jails Not the Only Answer : Support Programs Needed to Cure Criminals, Critics Say

Not everyone agrees that more jail beds--or jails alone--are the best investment San Diego County can make in its overburdened criminal justice system.

A few skeptics--criminologists, defense lawyers, some judges--say there is evidence that jailing does little to change criminal behavior.

Moreover, they argue that the county has other needs--non-jail alternatives to custody, drug and alcohol treatment programs, and the rebuilding of a Probation Department decimated by budget cuts--that demand consideration as the Board of Supervisors contemplates spending $420 million on jails and courts.

“We need some courts. We may need some honor camps,” said Thomas Gitchoff, a professor of criminal justice administration at San Diego State University. “But I’ll go out on a limb: I don’t think we need another jail.”

Supervisors in the past have laughed off Gitchoff’s suggestions that the county borrow a mothballed Navy ship and cheaply convert it to house low-security inmates. But he continues to advocate lower-cost alternatives to jail construction--from increased reliance on work release to experimentation with electronic transmitters that allow authorities to monitor criminals under house arrest without putting them in jail.

“We are so vengeful right now, on this very heavy, punitive kind of kick as a society, that we want to lock everybody up and throw away the key,” Gitchoff said.

“If it worked, I’d be all for it. But it doesn’t work. What we are currently doing is the most expensive, least cost-effective and least effective in terms of social correction.”

Alex Landon, the defense attorney who in 1980 won a court order capping the population of the downtown San Diego jail, says the county needs to invest in low-security alternatives to traditional lock-ups and also in exploring ways to reduce criminal behavior.

“We’ve built a whole bunch of beds since the lawsuit . . . they’ve been filled up, and we’re still overcrowded,” said Landon, executive director of Defenders Inc. “There’s a tendency that they get filled up as soon as you build them. We have to look to breaking that cycle.”

Like other judges, Superior Court Judge Michael Greer said he probably would sentence some criminals to longer jail terms if there was more jail space in the county.

But Greer insists his sentencing--particularly of young, first-time offenders--also could be more effective if San Diego had more programs aimed at rehabilitation, not just punishment.

“Just to build jails without the other programs isn’t going to cut it,” Greer said. “You’ve got to do both.”

Sharon Gibson, a counselor at the House of Metamorphosis drug treatment center in Southeast San Diego, agrees.

Three years ago, she was a resident of the drug treatment center, making a second attempt at freeing herself from addiction.

Now, at 37, she visits the county’s jails, evaluating inmates’ chances of duplicating her success in the House’s strict program. With the wait for a space at the 49-bed center hovering near three months, there simply is not room for everyone who wants to try.

“It’s getting worse and worse every day--people reaching out for help and asking for help,” Gibson said. “Unfortunately, we can’t house everybody.”