County Gives Final OK to Jail Addition; Santee Vows Fight

Moving to ease the county’s self-proclaimed jail crisis, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave final approval to plans to build a temporary men’s jail in Santee and expand an existing women’s detention facility there.

Setting the stage for a likely legal showdown with the City of Santee, the supervisors reaffirmed a policy position adopted last year and approved, by a vote of 4-1, an environmental impact report that cleared the way for construction of a 600-bed facility adjacent to the Las Colinas women’s jail, which would itself be expanded by 192 beds.

County officials contend that the temporary jail, expected to be open by July, is needed to alleviate a longstanding jail crowding problem that will be exacerbated this spring when the county’s Vista jail closes for expansion.

Court Challenge Vowed

Outraged Santee officials vowed after the board’s action to go to court to pursue their opposition to the temporary jail, which they characterized Tuesday as a “barbed-wire concentration camp” near schools and housing that will disrupt redevelopment plans for the city’s downtown.

While supervisors sympathized with Santee’s concerns, most argued that, at a time when the inmate population in the county’s six jails is nearly double its intended capacity, the regional need for additional jail beds outweighs the city’s displeasure over being the locale for those beds, even on a temporary basis.

“I don’t think a temporary facility is a good idea; I’d rather not have to build one,” Supervisor Susan Golding said. “None of us likes to do anything that gets a community upset . . . . But if we don’t do this, in a year or two we may be faced with thousands of prisoners being released because there isn’t room for them.”

Bids Will be Solicited

Under Tuesday’s action, bids for the prefabricated barracks-style men’s jail will be solicited over the next month, and construction is estimated to last three months--a timetable that could be lengthened, county administrators admit, by potential legal delays. In August, the board approved $4.7 million to construct the new facility and finance its operation.

Although a Superior Court judge last year rejected Santee’s request to prevent the county from moving ahead with plans for the temporary jail, city officials angrily pledged Tuesday to renew their legal opposition, perhaps as early as this week.

“The county’s big lie is that this is a temporary facility,” Mayor Jack Doyle said after the vote, in which Supervisor George Bailey was the lone dissenter. “But our fear is that 10, 20 years from now, we’ll still see it, and that’s what we’re going to go to court about.”

During Tuesday’s hearing, proponents and opponents alike repeated arguments heard often during the nearly two years of debate over the temporary jail.

Santee officials and residents complained that the 600-bed men’s jail will be near four elementary schools and residential development, and that it will seriously undermine the city’s redevelopment efforts by placing what Doyle described as “wooden barracks and razor-wire fencing . . . in the heart of our community.”

“Ask yourself, ‘Would I vote for this in any other city’s downtown?’ ” City Manager Ronald Ballard said. “ ‘Would I vote for this in my neighborhood?’ If the answer is no, then we urge you to vote no.”

Incompatible Use

Noting that the county’s own environmental impact report calls the temporary jail “incompatible with existing surrounding land uses,” Santee leaders also questioned whether the county had adequately examined possible alternative sites for the facility.

County administrators, however, downplayed the “incompatible use” finding by emphasizing that the jail is expected to be in use for less than seven years, until new permanent detention facilities are built. Moreover, while other possible locations were studied, none could be available for use as quickly and inexpensively as the 371 acres of county-owned land in Santee, the officials said.

Hoping the county’s financial self-interest might sway supervisors even if laments over the jail’s impact on Santee could not, city officials also argued that the jail would dramatically reduce the value of the county-owned site. With Doyle characterizing the property as “a gold mine,” he and others argued that the land, if developed, could produce millions of dollars in tax revenue to help the county solve the jail crisis and other problems.

“Once you have used your property for a sow’s ear, you will never be able to reap the benefits of a silk purse,” City Manager Ballard warned the board.