Board Rejects Civic Center Jail Plan

The Ventura County Board of Supervisors has decisively rejected a plan by Supervisor John Flynn to build a new jail at the County Government Center in East Ventura.

Instead, it approved a two-volume report Tuesday recommending that the jail be located at a new, as-yet-undecided site. The board also moved one step closer to construction by directing its Public Works Department to hire an architect.

In addition, the board created a task force to evaluate jail industries that could teach inmates job skills and produce income. Included among them was a recycling program suggested by Flynn.

“I think there’s been somewhat of a compromise here this morning,” said Supervisor Jim Doughtery as the two-hour public hearing wound to an end.

The report, prepared by Leach Kehoe Architects of Ventura, concluded that the county should build a $118-million jail with 2,026 beds on a 100-acre site away from the government center.

May Scale Down

But, said administrative analyst David Robertson, the county may scale down the plan, depending on how much money it has available when construction starts. Currently, the county has only $41 million in state funds to build the jail. The board also directed its staff to look for alternative ways to pay for the jail. One idea discussed earlier this year was to ask voters to approve a half-cent sales tax increase.

Flynn has long been the maverick on the jail issue, insisting that the most practical and inexpensive solution is to build a four-story jail at the government center.

Flynn also favored expanding work furlough programs and using alternative forms of incarceration--such as electronic confinement in which prisoners are sometimes ordered to remain in their homes, wearing non-removable bracelets that send a signal allowing their whereabouts to be monitored and traced.

He has held several news conferences this year to tout his proposal and attack the plan favored by Ventura County Sheriff John Gillespie. The sheriff and the four other board members want to build a campus-style jail in a semi-rural or agricultural setting that could house 2,000 inmates or more. They envision modular-style, medium-security buildings spread over 20 acres with an adjacent 80 acres of open space.

The jail Gillespie desires would include industrial workshops and recreational facilities for inmates. He said such a jail would meet inmate needs for the next 20 years, a prerequisite to qualify for the $41 million in state jail bond money. To collect that money, the county must also pick a site and start construction by the fall of 1990.

The Leach Kehoe report concluded that Flynn’s plan would require construction of a 14-story building, not a four-story one. The report also said that high-rise jails typically cost 8% to 27% more to operate than campus-style jails.

Flynn maintained that his plan was a good one but said it had been misunderstood. He ended on a conciliatory note, however, telling the board, “If I have upset anyone or been unduly critical, I apologize.”

Environmental Study

This fall, the county expects to complete an environmental study of five sites: 100 acres of farmland south of Hueneme and U.S. 1, Toland Park between Fillmore and Santa Paula, Todd Road between Ventura and Santa Paula south of California 126, and two locations off Pleasant Valley Road, one on each side of Camarillo State Hospital.

The county already has 933 beds at four locations, but those facilities are so overcrowded that two prisoners often share cells meant for one, and some prisoners sleep on cots in day rooms.

The facilities include the main jail at the county government center, a work furlough program at Camarillo Airport, a detention center at the East Valley Sheriff’s Station and Rose Valley Work Camp, a minimum-security facility north of Ojai.