Countywide : Seymour Attacks Board Over Plan to Build Jail

State Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) called Orange County supervisors “fiscally irresponsible” Thursday for proceeding with plans to construct a controversial new jail in Anaheim despite pending legislation that would bar the use of state funds for the project.

At a breakfast meeting with reporters in Irvine, Seymour predicted that Gov. George Deukmejian would eventually sign the legislation authored by Seymour and Assemblyman Richard Robinson (D-Garden Grove).

If county supervisors want to proceed with plans for a jail on 7.6 acres of county-owned land half a mile from Anaheim Stadium, they will have to depend on county money alone to build it, Seymour contended.

The senator said he did not understand why county supervisors did not sell the proposed jail site. With a development plan, the land should be worth $100 million, Seymour said. Meanwhile, supervisors should “build the finest jail (they) can find” in a remote site in the south or east county, he added.

County supervisors on Tuesday ordered that negotiations begin with three firms to prepare a development report on the project. The supervisors are trying to speed construction of a new jail after a federal judge found the county in contempt of court because of overcrowding in the main jail.