Dilapidated County Jails Could Be Death Traps, Grand Jury Report Says

San Diego County jails are fraught with “unacceptable safety and health hazards” caused by years of poor preventive maintenance, even to the point that some inmates cannot be removed from cells in emergencies, according to the county grand jury.

Among other things, the grand jury found that many smoke detectors do not work and that many sinks, toilets and urinals routinely leak.

The grand jury’s findings are based on a report issued Wednesday summarizing the results of its inspection of the six county detention facilities during the last year.

“Peeling paint and plaster, leaking roofs, clogged toilets, broken windows, leaking sinks and showers . . . are commonplace,” the report said.

“These conditions produce unacceptable safety and health hazards, as well as serious morale problems among inmates and employees alike. Low morale, in turn, results in excessive employee turnover, creates unnecessary friction among inmates, and contributes to employee-inmate confrontations.”

Grand Jury Foreman Armistead B. Smith Jr. took the dismal situation a step further with this personal observation:

“You could look at the Central Jail downtown and say it might be impossible to bring it up to code. You might find you could do it cheaper by just knocking the building down and starting over from scratch.”

Group Studying Issue

Cmdr. Melvin Nichols of the Sheriff’s Department’s detention facility operations bureau said a consultant group already is studying whether it would be cheaper to tear down the 29-year-old downtown jail than renovate it.

“My feeling is that it would not be cost-effective to try to modernize the jail,” he said.

Noting that the downtown jail is housing more than 1,400 inmates in a building rated for 700, he agreed with the grand jury about the many problems highlighted. And he said the problem is further frustrating to the Sheriff’s Department because the maintenance work is actually the responsibility of a separate arm of county government, the Department of of General Services.

“The report fairly represents the state of the situation, which is not good,” Nichols said.

Smith conceded that there are no funds in either department’s budget, allocated by the Board of Supervisors, to pay for maintenance and modernization of the jails. But he encouraged the board to seek more revenue.

Stalled by Court Action

“The public has to become knowledgeable about the needs,” he said. “The public has to recognize that there are bond issues that have to be supported, or that some form of tax increase is needed.”

San Diego voters, however, already have shown that they are willing to tax themselves to improve jail conditions. But a recent court decision has prevented, at least temporarily, the dollars generated by voters’ decision being used for that purpose.

Last June, voters countywide narrowly approved Proposition A, a half-cent sales tax increase estimated to raise $1.6 billion for new jails and courts over the next decade. Although that tax is now in effect, the county has been unable to spend the millions already collected because of a Riverside County Superior Court judge’s March ruling.

Ruling in a lawsuit filed by leaders of the San Diego County Libertarian Party, Judge Gordon Burkhart declared that the measure’s 50.6% support at the polls fell short of the two-thirds margin for new taxes mandated by Proposition 13, approved in 1978.

Burkhart’s decision, which he reaffirmed this week, is expected to be appealed to the state Supreme Court, a process that could take two years. In the meantime, the money raised by the tax will be kept in an interest-bearing escrow account.

In its report, the grand jury noted that the maintenance crews in the jails are woefully understaffed and operating with only 40% of the staff recommended by the U. S. Department of Justice.

The report primarily focused on the downtown jail, which Smith described as in the worst need of repair. Continuing problems include long delays for repair parts, which was highlighted in the grand jury’s description of “clamshell” devices used to lock doors in segregated housing for inmates.

Other Problems

The report said that these devices are no longer manufactured, and Nichols said that, when the cell doors jam, they can only be opened through a laborious manual process.

The report added: “When they malfunction, (quick) exit from cells and cellblocks becomes impossible; in the event of fire or riot, delayed exit could be catastrophic.”

The report identified other major problems in the jails:

- A contract to replace defective smoke detectors has been delayed since July because the repair parts were “out of stock.”

- One jail had seven plumbing problems, along with urinal leaks that that occurred for 14 consecutive weeks, and toilet-base leaks that lasted seven weeks.

- A fire alarm system at one jail was repeatedly condemned, and the fire marshal has threatened to “order the building closed.”

Nichols said each jail has its own peculiar problems.

He said the fountain outside the South Bay jail in Chula Vista is dry and roped off because water was draining and leaking into the facility. “That also happens when they water the flowers outside,” he said.

At the El Cajon jail, he said, the plumbing is a constant worry because inmates routinely flush cups, food and clothing down the toilets. Inevitably, Probation Department offices below the jail are flooded.

“It gets onto their desks and computers,” he said. “They have to cover up their computers and desks every night with plastic in case the inmates flood them out. It’s horrible.”

Nichols also said that, at some of the dormitory buildings in the Las Colinas jail complex, air-conditioning and heating vents are just now being installed, after a two-year delay.