Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : COUNTY : Musick Jail Expansion Voted

Orange County supervisors voted 4 to 0 last week to expand the James A. Musick branch jail in El Toro and agreed to try to trade the site for a larger, more remote one sometime in the future.

The minimum-security jail will be expanded to hold 1,535 inmates, 53.5% more than its current capacity. Musick was built in 1963 to hold 200 men and 60 women. Most of its 1,000 inmates now sleep in tents or trailers.

Training academies for the Orange County Fire and Sheriff’s departments will also be added at the 100-acre site.

The jail expansion is part of the county’s continuing effort to alleviate severe overcrowding, under pressure of a federal court order and contempt of court citations against the Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Brad Gates.

In addition, the county has plans for a maximum security jail for 1,500 inmates in Anaheim and a maximum and minimum security facility for 6,000 more in a remote part of the county.

The county’s Environmental Management Agency has identified four sites it will recommend to the Board of Supervisors for that new jail: the Coal Canyon-Gypsum Canyon area, Fremont Canyon and Irvine Lake (all in the county’s eastern foothills), and Chiquita Canyon (near Ortega Highway north of San Juan Capistrano).

An earlier proposal to put a jail in Coal or Gypsum Canyon drew fire from residents of nearby Anaheim Hills and Corona, prompting the supervisors to extend their site search to other parts of the county.

Whichever site the board eventually selects, the county will try to acquire the needed land by trading it for the current Musick jail site.

About 30 inmates have escaped from the branch jail this year, prompting some nearby residents to oppose its expansion. They also have expressed concern about noise and traffic the planned service academies would generate.

But the board approved measures--enclosing a shooting range and eliminating a helipad, for example--to allay the neighbors’ fears. The jail expansion will include improved security measures, as well.