A Bad Bill on Jail Issue

The city of Santee has ample reason to mistrust the county’s commitment to close the temporary men’s jail, which opened in January next door to the Las Colinas women’s jail.

At almost every turn, county officials have couched their assurances that the jail will be out of Santee by 1996 with questions about whether the region will be able to afford to lose the 580 beds given the rapidly growing jail population and the uncertainty of funding.

Santee also has reason to question the safety of the medium-security, barracks-style facility. Three inmates have scaled its barbed wire fences before being recaptured, confirming one of Santee’s fears about the effects the jail could have on the community and on nearby redevelopment efforts.

But, although we understand Santee’s wish for stronger guarantees, we think that state Sen. Larry Stirling’s (R-San Diego) bill to force an early closure of the jail is overkill. It’s also an inappropriate intervention into what should be a local matter. If the bill is successful--it has passed the Senate and is awaiting action in the Assembly--the county would have to close the temporary jail when the planned East Mesa jail opens, probably in 1991.

Santee argues that that is what the county promised. The county says its plan has always been to keep the temporary jail open until both the East Mesa facility and a new pretrial detention center are built. The environmental impact report on the Santee jail seems to support the county’s argument.

More pertinent, however, is that the county will need the Santee jail beds beyond 1991 because of severe crowding that resulted from fiscal restraints and years of poor planning.

Santee contends, however, that the 1,000 beds almost ready at the remodeled Vista jail and the 1,040 beds at East Mesa, which could be closer to 2,000 if the county ignores state standards and double-bunks, not only would offset the loss of 580 beds, but would cover the county’s present 2,333-bed shortage.

But, with the county adding more than 50,000 residents a year, officials say there will still be more inmates than jail space in 1991, even with Vista and East Mesa. Santee and others question the county’s long-term projections.

Time will judge those projections. But today’s overcrowding is very real, and the sheriff is under court order to limit the number of inmates.

Meanwhile, the funding for new jails has been jeopardized by a lawsuit challenging a 0.5% increase in the sales tax rate. The county lost the first round, and the case is now on appeal.

So this is not a wise time to move up the deadline for closing the Santee jail. The Assembly should defeat Stirling’s bill, which could benefit one Senate district, but harm the whole county.

The 1996 deadline should be taken seriously, however. Santee deserves to know that the county has a realistic plan for moving the jail--perhaps to East Mesa as suggested in the environmental impact report--regardless of whether there’s still a jail shortage.