Countywide : Board OKs Plan to Allow Double-Bunking at Jail

The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a $1.7-million plan to hire 10 new deputies and 14 other workers to clear the way for double-bunking of some cells as a means of easing overcrowding at Orange County Jail.

Double-bunking at the Intake/Release Center in Santa Ana had been prohibited by the state Board of Corrections until last January, when the board lifted the ban on the condition that adequate personnel be hired to handle the increased inmate population. The double-bunking, which could begin as early as this week, will involve 216 cells that already contain two beds.

Sheriff’s Department officials say double-bunking is a temporary, emergency solution to chronic jail overcrowding that is getting worse. It is expected to only slightly decrease the number of inmates who are released early or simply cited and released after their arrests because there is no room for them.

The jail typically houses as many as 1,000 more inmates than its approved capacity of 3,200. Last year, 42,675 people arrested were released early or cited and released. That figure is expected to increase to more than 50,000 this year.

Longer-term solutions for overcrowding include expanding the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange and building a new 3,744-bed county jail in Gypsum Canyon. Both projects, though approved by the Board of Supervisors, face opposition from neighbors, and in the case of the Theo Lacy expansion, the city of Orange.

In a separate action Tuesday, the board unanimously approved a $1.9-million staffing plan for the Theo Lacy project. That plan and the double-bunking will be partially paid for out of a special fund made up of forfeited fines and parking ticket penalties. Supervisor Roger R. Stanton was absent for both votes.