Sheriff Gets OK to Release Inmates Early to Reduce Jail Overcrowding

In an extraordinary action, a Superior Court judge Friday authorized the early release of inmates in order to reduce overcrowding in the Orange County Jail.

Acting at the request of Sheriff Brad Gates, Superior Court Presiding Judge Everett W. Dickey signed an order permitting Gates to release “any particular inmate” up to five days early “if necessary to balance the inmate count and the actual bed capacity.”

Sheriff’s Capt. Wyatt Hart, who oversees the county’s main men’s jail in Santa Ana, said he did not know how many inmates might be released early.

Dickey’s order, which expires in 30 days, limits accelerated releases to no more than 10% of any inmate’s sentence.

No such order has ever been issued before in Orange County, officials said Friday. James G. Enright, chief deputy district attorney, said the county once had a panel that reviewed jail sentences and released some inmates on parole. “But none of that was related to jail overcrowding, and the inmates involved weren’t just let go--they were on parole, which is still a form of control,” he said.

Lukewarm Reaction

Reaction from county officials was lukewarm.

“No one likes to do these things,” Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks said. “They (inmates) were given these sentences because judges thought they were appropriate. . . . If there’s another way, I’m sure they’re exploring it. . . . We’re all kind of struggling to deal with this thing.”

Enright, added:

“This is not something we’re going to jump for joy over, but we understand the (overcrowding) problem. We hope the sheriff is selective.”

Meanwhile, Board of Supervisors Chairman Ralph B. Clark said he appreciates the judge “stepping onto the floor and doing something about the overcrowding problem. . . . We can’t afford to let the situation get any worse.”

Friday’s action came in response to Tuesday’s order by U.S. District Judge William P. Gray, who has summoned Gates back into federal court to explain why he has violated the judge’s previous orders prohibiting overcrowding at the Orange County Jail.

Gray set a contempt of court hearing for March 20 in Santa Ana.

Gray’s order followed a report filed last week by Lawrence G. Grossman, the court-appointed special master for the jail, showing that on three occasions between Feb. 18 and Feb. 24 the jail population exceeded the judge’s 1,500-inmate limit.

Gray held Gates and county supervisors in contempt of court in March, 1985, for not heeding his 1978 order to improve jail conditions. He levied fines against the county and used part of the money to pay Grossman, the court’s appointee.

Supervisors Criticized

At that time, the inmate count was 2,000. Gray subsequently ordered it cut to 1,500 by last Jan. 15 and 1,400 by April 1.

Undersheriff Raul Ramos said the main jail in Santa Ana held 1,425 inmates as of Friday afternoon.

“The only time we would invoke Judge Dickey’s order is when we’re approaching the cap on our capacity, and that usually happens on weekends and holidays, when the courts are closed and not processing people through the system,” Ramos said.

Gates, who recently criticized county supervisors for not acting on a site for a new jail despite years of study, was unavailable for comment.

Gates recently has transferred some inmates to branch facilities to alleviate overcrowding.

‘Alarming Increase’ of Inmates

However, even with the addition of tents and trailers, the branch jails have failed to ease the overcrowding in the main jail. Gates recently warned that an “alarming increase” in the inmate population is making it difficult to meet Gray’s April 1 deadline.

Tuesday, as word of Gray’s latest court order spread among county officials, Gates met privately with Dickey, County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish and judges from the county’s Municipal Court branches to discuss possible emergency measures.

One proposal under study involves permitting some inmates convicted of misdemeanors to leave jail early and report to special highway work crews under the direction of Caltrans, according to one judge who attended Tuesday’s meeting.

Friday’s early release order was similar to one of Grossman’s suggestions contained in the jail overseer’s report to Gray last week.

Alternatives to Jail

Grossman listed four alternatives to incarceration:

- Release nonviolent defendants accused of lesser crimes, giving them citations.

- Reinstate the parole process in the county.

- Develop a home-confinement program for those assigned to the county’s work-furlough program, using electronic monitoring devices like those to be used as of July 1 in San Diego County.

- Release selected convicts three days before the scheduled expiration of their sentences (Dickey opted for five days early).

Gates submitted a signed declaration to Dickey on Friday in which he requested the early release action.

Penal Code Cited

In his declaration, Gates referred to Gray’s latest demand that the sheriff appear before him on March 20 and added:

“It is essential that the population of the main jail, which is the only maximum security facility in the system, be reduced and this can only be accomplished by the transfer of less-dangerous prisoners to other county facilities which are less secure and already at or above their authorized capacities.”

Then Gates cited a relatively unused, obscure section of the California Penal Code which states that law enforcement officials may seek early release orders when “the actual inmate count exceeds the actual bed capacity of a county or city jail.”

The Penal Code doesn’t permit releases that are more than five days early and, as Dickey ordered Friday, the amount of time cut from a jail term may not exceed 10% of the prisoner’s jail term.