Gates Free of Contempt in Jail-Crowding Case

A Municipal Court judge Monday dropped contempt of court charges against Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates, saying he was satisfied that the sheriff was doing “everything he can within his power” to jail some misdemeanor suspects.

But Gates later warned that the county’s shortage of jail beds is still a serious problem and that he could be in trouble with the judge again in 60 days.

“We’ve stretched the rubber band a little tighter to try to satisfy the judge,” Gates said after the hearing in Santa Ana. “Let’s just hope we don’t have it stretched so tight it breaks.”

Municipal Judge Gary P. Ryan had found Gates in contempt of court April 30 because of Gates’ refusal to accept as inmates at Orange County Jail people arrested on misdemeanor warrants. Ryan questioned whether Gates was doing enough to fill empty beds at the James A. Musick Branch Jail.

Gates said he had no choice but to turn away those arrestees because of a federal court order placing a 1,296-inmate cap on the jail’s population. He also argued that he could not fill all the beds at Musick without changing his system for classifying inmates.

A year ago, Gates started turning away people arrested on the street by police for misdemeanors. Last October and November he expanded his order to include people arrested on warrants signed by judges plus bench warrants issued by judges for those who failed to appear in court.

Gates told the court he has turned away nearly 7,000 warrant suspects since that policy was initiated and more than 10,000 arrested misdemeanor suspects altogether.

Compliance Not Guaranteed

Gates said he still can’t guarantee that he can fully comply with Ryan’s demand that he jail all misdemeanor warrant arrestees. But Ryan said repeatedly Monday that he was satisfied that Gates had made efforts since the contempt order to meet the misdemeanor arrest problem.

Two weeks ago, Gates started making room for misdemeanor inmates by changing his standards for admission at the Musick facility, which for the first time began accepting inmates awaiting trial instead of only sentenced prisoners. He also set up 40 additional beds in the tent section of the jail set up two years ago on orders from federal court.

At Monday’s hearing, Ryan said he was satisfied by Gates’ classification adjustments and also cited Gates’ plans to expand the work furlough program for inmates, which would add even more jail beds.

Gates said Ryan had placed him between a rock and a hard place.

“I respect the judge’s position,” Gates said. “I’ve said from the beginning I was violating state law by turning away these warrant arrests. But I had no choice.”

Gates said the new mix of inmates at Musick was not good jail policy.

“I went through all our facilities last week, and I could sense an electricity level in the air (at Musick) that wasn’t good,” Gates said. He went on to explain that he may have to place some jail deputies on overtime to make sure that harder-core inmates don’t try to dominate the others.

Susan Miller, a member of the Serrano Park Homeowners Assn. board of directors, said she was not alarmed because her group had been assured by county Supervisor Gaddi H. Vasquez that the only pretrial inmates who would be sent to Musick would be inmates who would qualify for that jail as sentenced inmates if convicted.

No suspect facing the most serious charges, such as rape or murder, is being sent to Musick. But some arrested on narcotics charges are. Musick in the past has accepted sentenced inmates convicted on narcotics charges. But Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Richard J. Olson said Gates’ concern is that Musick may now have to accept people considered “more sophisticated” in the drug culture.

Gates at first told his attorneys to fight Ryan’s contempt order in federal court before U.S. District Judge William P. Gray, who had issued the population cap for the main jail.

But two weeks ago Gates decided not to fight the order. He said he believed that he could convince Ryan that he was doing everything possible.

The new Intake and Release Center, under construction in the block just west of the main jail, is scheduled to be ready for occupancy in late July, which could ease the county’s jail burden by 400 to 500 beds.

But Gates said he still needs an additional 600 beds.

Expansion Plans OKd

The Board of Supervisors has responded to Gates’ request for additional beds by approving plans for a 1,000-bed expansion at the Theo Lacy branch jail in Orange.

But Gates said that may not come soon enough to do the job.

“Our projections are that our arrests are going to go up, and the Intake and Release Center will be filled almost as soon as it opens,” Gates said. “In 60 days we could be right back here in court.”

Vasquez said Monday that the supervisors “would like to move more decisively” to help Gates. But he cited the need for an environmental study before the Lacy expansion can begin. He added that the supervisors also have to be sensitive to community opposition to new jails or jail expansions.

Gates’ contention that more beds are needed is “no surprise to anyone,” Vasquez said. “We all agree with him on that.”

Technically, Gates could have been given a 30-day jail sentence on the contempt citation. But on Monday, Gates said he had not been too worried about Ryan’s sending him to jail

“There were several places he could have sent me, but if he sent me to my own jail, I’ve got a key,” Gates said.