ORANGE COUNTY ‘87: a Look Ahead : JAILS : Board of Supervisors Faces Thorny Problem of Relieving Overcrowding

The outgoing chairman of the Orange County Board of Supervisors saw familiar jail problems looming in the months ahead.

“In 1987, the board will face five key jail issues,” Ralph B. Clark, who is retiring as a supervisor, said in his last board speech this month.

The issues include the opening of the intake and release center in Santa Ana, picking a remote site for a 5,000-inmate jail, and expanding the James A. Musick branch jail near El Toro.

The other two jail issues are the county’s legal battle with the City of Anaheim over plans to build a 1,500-bed, $141-million jail in that city and deciding when to seek voter approval for a bond issue to pay for the Anaheim facility and the remote jail.

Anaheim city officials are suing to prevent construction of a jail at Katella Avenue and Douglass Road, not far from Anaheim Stadium. The California Angels, the Los Angeles Rams and Disneyland also oppose building a jail on 7.6 acres of county land at that site.

The county has been under pressure to relieve overcrowding at its main men’s jail since 1978, when U.S. District Judge William P. Gray ordered the sheriff and supervisors to provide a bunk for each inmate. In 1985, Gray found the supervisors and Sheriff Brad Gates in contempt for not complying with that order. Since then, the county has expanded branch jails and launched programs to keep low-risk offenders out of jail. Gray has ordered that no more than 1,400 inmates may be held at the men’s jail on weekdays and no more than 1,450 on weekends.