A HISTORY OF THE JAIL CONTROVERSY

Nov. 10, 1968--Construction completed at main men’s jail in downtown Santa Ana.

May 4, 1978--U.S. District Judge William P. Gray orders Orange County to improve conditions in the jail.

March 18, 1985--Gray finds Sheriff Brad Gates and the five county supervisors in contempt for not heeding his 1978 order and fines them $50,000.

September, 1985--Gates begins releasing low-risk defendants with citations, rather than booking them into jail, because of crowded conditions.

Nov. 13, 1985--Construction begins on the intake and release center next to main jail to house 382 to 700 inmates; it is to open in July, 1987.

March 18, 1986--Supervisors choose county-owned property at Katella Avenue and Douglass Road in Anaheim, near Anaheim Stadium, as the site for a 1,500-inmate jail.

October, 1986--Gates expands the cite-and-release program from newly arrested defendants to people arrested on warrants issued because they had failed to appear in court on previous charges.

Nov. 26, 1986--Supervisors approve feasibility study for jail in “remote” area of county to hold up to 5,000 inmates; selected as potential sites are Gypsum Canyon/Coal Canyon, Fremont Canyon, Irvine Lake and Chiquita Canyon.

March 27, 1987--Presiding Municipal Judge Gary P. Ryan orders Gates to show why he should not be held in contempt of court for releasing six men with citations after judges had issued bench warrants ordering their arrests.

April 30, 1987--Ryan finds Gates in contempt of court for releasing the six men when there were empty beds at the branch jails.