Design Is Key to New Jail: Detention Center in Vista Wins Praise

When it opened 14 years ago, the Vista detention center was a suburban branch jail for North County. But with the growth of North County came more crime--and the need to house more criminal suspects. And no longer can the Vista detention center be considered a branch office in the administration of justice.

When the newly expanded Vista detention center reopens this summer, it will be the largest jail in San Diego County, larger even than the main jail in downtown San Diego.

By court order, the downtown jail is limited to 750 inmates. Its Vista counterpart, on the other hand, will house nearly 1,000.

Already Winning Praise

Despite those projections--double the number for which the jail was designed--the facility already is winning praise from defense attorneys and others for the quality of life it will offer its inmates.

As jails go, consider some of the amenities of the new Vista facility:

* Windows in each cell so natural daylight can enter.

* More exercise yards, including some indoors that can be used in bad weather.

* More visiting areas, so inmates can spend up to four hours a week--instead of the two hours that had been the regimen--with family and friends. Visiting hours will be from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

* Multipurpose rooms in addition to the normal “day rooms” shared by blocks of inmates. These rooms might one day even feature video games and other attractions, financed through inmate entertainment funds.

* The use of “mods” housing 32 inmates each, rather than larger dormitories, thereby making it easier to segregate into smaller groups inmates who might not otherwise get along, such as members of rival gangs.

“It’s an exemplary facility compared to what exists today,” defense attorney Brad Patton said after touring the jail. “It’s certainly at the cutting edge of jail technology.”

Year in the Making

The jail expansion has been a year in the making, at a cost of $29 million. In the interim, the 583 inmates who were squeezed into the old Vista jail--which was designed for an optimum population of 242--were relocated to the county’s other jails in downtown San Diego, El Cajon and Santee.

The old jail was renovated, and the add-on is virtually complete, giving the new facility a rating of 542 inmates--one per cell. But most cells already are

planned to have double bunks because of the county’s jail shortage, resulting in a projected population at Vista of nearly 1,000 inmates.

The county is not required by state law to limit inmates to one per cell, on which the 542-inmate rating is partially based, but officials acknowledge that by exceeding the state’s rated capacity for the jail population, they expose themselves to a possible lawsuit based on overcrowded conditions and, thus, cruel and unusual punishment.

But defense attorneys say they are not overly concerned by the squeeze because the new facility’s amenities should reduce the stress and tension of close living that have plagued the downtown jail.

“We’ll have to see how they handle it once they start moving inmates in, but I’m very impressed by how spacious the place is,” said defense attorney John Emerson. “Even if they double-bunk (to bring the jail population to nearly 1,000), I don’t think it will be overcrowded.”

Helps Jail Workers Too

Jail officials say making life as pleasant as possible for the inmates will make their own jobs easier.

“If you make it a better place for inmates, you consequently make it a better place for the deputies,” said Capt. Jim Marmack, the jail commander. “I can’t wait for the place to open.”

The new facility reflects newer thinking in jail design, including the positioning of six two-story mods, each housing 32 inmates, in a wheel configuration. Each mod--and each cell within that mod--can be monitored by a single guard station where a deputy has a 270-degree view from his hub position.

Within his booth, the deputy has full electronic control over his mods, including the ability to eavesdrop electronically on conversations within the mods and to open single cells within particular mods to allow specific inmates to come and go. One deputy will always be in the control booth, and another will patrol the mods.

In the old jail, deputy guards could look down hallways but not into all the cells.

Each mod features 16 two-man cells, 10 feet by 7 feet, and a day room for eating, socializing and watching television. In addition, each group of three mods has an additional multipurpose room that is not yet equipped but may someday offer such diversions as table tennis and video games, officials say.

A master control room will provide control over the entire facility, with the ability to override any individual mod control booth should it be taken over by inmates.

Dormitory-style sleeping arrangements were maintained in the older section of the jail, but will be reserved for about 130 trusties--inmates who during the day have greater freedom to move throughout the entire facility to tend to various chores.

The new jail will also have an expanded law library to serve those inmates representing themselves in court, an expanded medical unit to house up to 30 male and 10 female inmates, and three so-called “safety cells,” or rubber-padded isolation units.

With the expansion comes a new, on-site laundry room, to be staffed by female inmates, and a larger kitchen, staffed by male inmates.

While a tunnel will connect the jail to the adjoining courthouse, inmates facing arraignment will not need to leave the building at all, and can simply stand before a video camera for their arraignment and appear live on a television monitor in the courtroom.

About 75% of the inmates will either have been in custody awaiting arraignment or be awaiting sentencing.

Despite the new technology--including elaborate alarm systems to alert officials to fire or inmate unrest--officials say they still will face age-old problems, including the sneaking of contraband into the jail.

And not just drugs. The entire jail will be posted: No Smoking.