Study Backs Alternatives to New Jail

A study financed by opponents of the proposed 1,500-inmate jail near Anaheim Stadium recommends expanding the county’s two branch jails and a nearly finished detention center, rather than building the Anaheim jail.

The study by the firm of Steinmann, Grayson, Smylie contends that it would be cheaper for the county to build a jail in a remote, non-urban area for inmates serving their sentences and to use existing, expanded facilities for prisoners awaiting trial.

Financed by the Jail Action Committee, composed of Anaheim residents and business groups, the study presented to county officials this week said the branch jails at Orange and El Toro could be expanded by 200 beds and 500 beds, respectively.

‘Disjointed, Inefficient’

In addition, the Intake/Release Center now under construction near the main men’s jail in downtown Santa Ana could hold an additional 384 people if each cell houses two inmates rather than one, the study said.

The study said that building any urban jail “would result in adding yet another disjointed, inefficient, and certainly not cost-effective component to the Orange County criminal justice system.”

The Board of Supervisors approved the Anaheim site last March on a 4-1 vote.

In 1985, U.S. District Judge William P. Gray found the supervisors and Sheriff Brad Gates in contempt for not heeding his 1978 order to end overcrowding at the jail.

Gates warned the supervisors last week that the Orange County Jail was near the 1,400-inmate ceiling set by Gray. On Thursday, the sheriff met with County Administrative Officer Larry Parrish to discuss solutions to the problem.

Parrish said later that “there’s nothing exciting to report.” He said the county is “going to move ahead on a consultant of some sort” to evaluate the possibility of establishing a separate Corrections Department.