Judge Raises Ceiling on Inmate Capacity at Downtown Jail

In a complex musical-chair arrangement, a San Diego County Superior Court judge dramatically raised the capacity of County Jail downtown Thursday so it can house Vista jail inmates until they can be moved again in September to a temporary holding facility in Santee.

Judge James A. Malkus issued his ruling after a two-hour tour of the downtown jail in which he inspected the new installation of triple bunk beds squeezed into inmate day rooms and free-space areas.

The increased inmate capacity was sought by the county to meet the construction deadline on an expansion of the Vista jail. Unless the Vista jail is emptied by the end of this month of its more than 500 inmates, county officials warned, construction would be delayed past the expected June 1, 1989, completion date.

“We’ll start moving inmates out tonight,” said Capt. Jim Marmack, who oversees the Vista detention facility. “We’ll do two busloads tonight coming downtown and start back up in the morning.”

The inmate transfers could not come at a more volatile time--less than three weeks before voters go to the polls to consider raising the sales tax by half a cent to pay for criminal justice facilities.

In addition, overcrowding in all six county jails has hit all-time highs. In the face of that increase, Sheriff John Duffy just last month announced that his deputies in the downtown jail are refusing to book many minor offenders.

With tensions increasing, numerous inmates have begun leveling accusations that they have been beaten at the hands of jail deputies, prompting investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. attorney’s office.

“I’m concerned about the crowded conditions,” Malkus said. “I’m concerned about the heat of the summer coming up on us. I’m concerned about the general maintenance of good morale not only for the inmates but for the people who work in there with them.”

He also criticized the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, suggesting that the board has not provided forceful leadership because it “has not done something about this overcrowding situation.

“The emergency is not one of the sheriff’s making,” the judge said. “But it exists and cannot be ignored.”

The county broke ground last May on the Vista jail expansion, which will nearly double that jail’s rated capacity from 246 to 542.

The project includes about 109,000 square feet of new construction, 25,000 square feet of renovated existing space and 67,000 square feet of roofing.

Construction work was scheduled to take two years, and required that the jail be vacated during the second year of the construction.

Working under that timetable, county officials began shopping for space to house the Vista inmates.

Considered Descanso

Initial plans were to put them in the Descanso detention facility, but that idea was scrapped when the sewage treatment system there was found to be overburdened.

Officials then had designs on Las Colinas jail in Santee and drew up a proposal for a temporary holding facility next to the women’s jail there. But those plans were delayed by legal challenges and opposition from city leaders in Santee.

Deputy County Counsel Anthony Albers told the judge Thursday that the 600-inmate temporary site next to Las Colinas will not be available until Sept. 1. Therefore, he asked that the Vista inmates be placed in the downtown jail until then.

To accommodate that arrangement, the capacity level at the downtown jail had to be raised.

In 1980, Superior Court Judge James Focht raised the limit on inmate population to 750 downtown. But Malkus increased that cap to 1,050 in 1986.

At the request of Albers, the judge increased it again on Thursday by 200 inmates--to 1,250--to make room for the Vista transferees.

But he did so after being assured by Albers and other county officials that there is room in the downtown jail for the influx of inmates.

Officials from the county Probation Department told Malkus that more than 200 downtown inmates have been placed in honor camps and work furlough programs.

Other inmates have been moved out of the downtown jail and placed in the South Bay Detention Facility, where high ceilings and dormitory-like open spaces have absorbed the transferees. On Thursday, the South Bay jail, with 795 inmates, was rated at 414% of capacity.

In addition, special paroles have been granted to further ease the congestion, officials said.

The result was dramatic.

On April 21, the inmate population downtown was 1,175. By Thursday, the population had been reduced to 724.

A total of 523 male inmates were counted Thursday in the Vista jail. With 1,260 beds now in place in the downtown jail, the majority of those Vista inmates will be moved downtown, and the overflow will be placed in other outlining facilities.

The 18 females in custody in Vista are to be transferred to the women’s jail at Las Colinas.

Minor Offenders Not Jailed

Also under the new arrangement, felony offenders arrested in North County will be processed at a temporary location in Vista and then transferred downtown for jailing. But misdemeanor offenders from North County will not be incarcerated, in keeping with Duffy’s new policy of not booking minor offenders at the downtown jail.

Representatives of the American Civil Liberties Union, who have filed class-action lawsuits against the Sheriff’s Department because of the overcrowding, agreed to the increased cap of 1,250 in the downtown jail.

But attorney Alex Landon filed affidavits with the court from two inmates alleging specific overcrowded conditions that he asked be corrected while the Vista inmates are downtown.

The inmates complained in the affidavits of crowded tank areas in which inmates were forced to sleep on the floor and of broken toilets and showers, infrequent sick-call opportunities and too few telephones.

After inspecting the jail, Malkus said he was satisfied that all inmates would be provided adequate medical attention. He also ordered that every inmate be allowed routine shower privileges and, most emphatically, he said he wanted all inmates sleeping in a bed.

Malkus also wanted an additional 13 to 19 deputies and correctional officers to be assigned to the downtown jail this summer.

But Landon cautioned that the situation in the downtown jail still remained extremely volatile.

He noted that the 1,250 capacity level “puts the number right back up there” to where it was in 1980 when Judge Focht cited cruel-and-unusual overcrowding conditions and limited the inmate population level to 750.

“The facility is eight years older now,” Landon told Malkus on Thursday. “The new bunks have been placed in there and the actual size of the tanks have been shrunk because of that. Plus there have not been installed additional toilets and showers and the eating tables have remained constant. You are either forced to sit down on the floor and eat or find a rack to eat off.”

After the hearing, he elaborated on his concerns.

“It’s going to be a tough situation,” he said. “It’s going to be a tense situation. And if we see there is a problem, we’ll be back before the court. If there’s just one floor-sleeper, we’ll absolutely be back.”