Week in Review : MAJOR EVENTS, IMAGES AND PEOPLE IN ORANGE COUNTY NEWS : COUNTY : Jail Officials Under Fire Again on 2 Fronts

Orange County jail officials took a beating on two fronts last week, as an American Civil Liberties Union attorney criticized the County Jail’s medical ward as unsafe and a county grand jury urged the Board of Supervisors to find 300 new maximum-security beds immediately.

So far this year, two inmates in medical observation cells have died and a third tried to hang himself last Sunday. The jail’s 18 medical observation cells have solid doors with small windows, and deputies and nurses cannot always observe the inmates.

County officials said last week that the doors might be replaced with regular jail bars and wire mesh, or with some kind of glass or acrylic plastic.

“It’s the sheriff’s decision, but we are for anything that will improve the situation,” said county Health Care Agency Director Tom Uram.

Observation cameras are also being installed in the jail’s 30-bed infirmary area.

ACLU attorney Richard P. Herman, who has led a lawsuit against the jail’s overcrowding, applauded the decision to improve visibility into the jail cells. But he also called on jail officials to install cameras in the 18 medical observation cells “to make sure that the inmates are safe.”

A private consultant will inspect the jail’s medical facilities March 27 on the ACLU’s behalf. If he finds that the quality of medical care is substandard, the ACLU will file a motion asking that the 18 medical isolation cells be shut down, Herman said.

In another development, the grand jury said the county’s policy of weeding out less-dangerous inmates from the jail has left a population of hard-core, maximum-security inmates who pose a threat to each other and to jail guards.

The grand jurors said that “alternatives for gaining these (300) beds on a temporary basis are available” but they did not elaborate. Foreman James V. Robinson II said in an interview that “the best people to ask” about the availability of beds “are the sheriff and the supervisors.”

To comply with 2-year-old federal court ceilings on the number of inmates in the main men’s jail in downtown Santa Ana, officials have refused to accept people accused of minor offenses and have farmed out minimum-security inmates to branch jails.

The grand jury said that unless the 300 additional beds are made available within 30 days, there will be no way to meet the judge’s ceiling and also maintain security.

The county jail now holds a maximum of 1,291 inmates on the housing floors. An additional 380 beds will be available in June when an intake-and-release center next to the jail opens, and Sheriff Brad Gates has requested 600 more beds as well.