Supervisor Calls For New Agency to Operate Jails : Government: An airport solution and health care for pregnant women also receive attention in Leon Williams’ State of the County address.

Leon Williams, the newly elected chairman of the county Board of Supervisors, called Tuesday for establishing a county Department of Corrections to run the much-maligned jail system now operated by the Sheriff’s Department.

Although Williams stressed during his State of the County address Tuesday that his administration will concentrate on developing “long-term, preventive programs to solve problems before they are created,” he cited a few specific issues, such as the troubled jail system, as problems he plans to address immediately.

Relocating an international airport to Miramar Naval Air Station from crowded Lindbergh Field and establishing a health care network that would provide cost-effective perinatal care to pregnant women were other goals Williams said needed prompt attention.

Williams said the county has spent more than $900 million a year on social services programs, $230 million annually on the criminal justice system and $160 million a year on health services, yet it suffers from ills such as homelessness, lack of courts and jails, and inadequate medical care.

With the county’s fiscal crisis taking a turn for the worst, Williams said he plans to make “cost-effectiveness programs” a prominent phrase during his administration.

Stretching dollars is one of the primary reasons that Williams asked his colleagues to support placing a measure on the June ballot to amend the County Charter so that the Board of Supervisors can create a county corrections department.

“There are indications that we can effect greater operating efficiencies by the creation of such a department,” Williams said.

Advocates of a corrections department, including Williams and Supervisor George Bailey, say the cost of training and paying correctional officers would be less than using sheriff’s deputies--who also need to be trained to perform other law enforcement duties.

Supervisor Brian Bilbray said he has not decided whether he supports the creation of a corrections department but said Williams’ proposal merits further study because it offers other attractive benefits.

“It should also improve morale because we’ll be hiring people who want to work in a correctional system and not deputies who were hired to go out on patrol and then forced to stay and work in jails,” Bilbray said.

Also, Williams said, the creation of a corrections department would address the issue of accountability because the department would report directly to the Board of Supervisors rather than the sheriff. The issue of accountability came to the forefront after reports that some sheriff’s deputies, part of so-called “Rambo Squads,” randomly beat and harassed inmates in the county jails.

Escondido Police Chief Vince Jimno, who is a candidate for sheriff, called Williams’ proposal premature and a hasty reaction to recent confrontations between the supervisors and Sheriff John Duffy.

“I realize the board wants accountability and wants control of the department, but I believe that this is a just a reaction to the recent negative discussions that have occurred between the sheriff and the board,” Jimno said.

“This is not a wise choice,” Jimno said. “I would recommend that the board wait until a new sheriff is elected to give him a fair chance to develop a plan that would address their concerns. I can propose a program that would give the board what they want without having to build a whole new bureaucracy.”

Jimno says lower training and salary costs can also be achieved by simply having correctional officers hired by the sheriff.

Other candidates for sheriff--former San Diego Police Chief Ray Hoobler, Sheriff’s Capt. Jim Roache and Asst. Sheriff Jack Drown--could not be reached for comment.

Supervisors John MacDonald and Susan Golding said they will await the completion of a county study assessing the cost-effectiveness of a corrections department before making a decision to support Williams’ proposal.

“I’m definitely open to the idea, but right now I don’t have the information in front of me to say that this will definitely be more cost-effective,” Golding said. “I want to make clear that this is not a turf question. I want the jails run cost-effectively and humanely, and at this point I don’t know if the new sheriff can do that. If he can, that’s fine with me.”

Supervisor George Bailey backed Williams saying: “I’ve been disappointed in our ability to control the sheriff’s budget and the service we have received in return. This would allow the board to control the administration (of the jails), and we would have control of the way funds are spent.”

According to David Janssen, assistant chief administrative officer, the board will have to address Williams’ proposal before Feb. 24, the deadline for having a measure placed on the June ballot.

Although state law apparently gives the county the authority to establish a corrections department, Williams wants to take the matter before the voters to avoid legal complications such as those encountered in Santa Clara County.

In June, 1987, Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors took steps under a state law to establish a corrections department, but the actions were challenged by the Deputy Sheriffs’ Assn. of Santa Clara County. The courts eventually backed the board’s action, but both the sheriff’s deputies and the supervisors put a measure on the ballot to have the voters decide the issue. The board’s measure won.

Williams also said it is time to ask the region’s congressional representatives to persuade the Navy to relinquish Miramar Naval Base so the county can use it for an international airport.

“The airport issue has been studied and re-studied by Sandag. . . . We need to bring this issue to a close,” Williams said during an interview after his State of the County address. “We’ve looked at every possible place in the county. There simply is no other place that is suitable.”

Bilbray, who also backs relocating the airport to Miramar, said: “The Navy may not want to move, but they’re just another bureaucracy, and, like all other bureaucracies, they take orders from the top. So that’s where we have to go--to the elected officials at the top to get them out.”

Williams said he and Bilbray are also working to create a “perinatal provider network” composed of representatives from hospitals, community clinics, private physicians and county staff to “remove the barriers which inhibit women and infants from receiving needed and cost-effective perinatal care.”

“In some cases we spend as much as $60,000 in a matter of weeks for round-the-clock, intensive medical care for low-weight babies that were born because their mothers didn’t receive proper care,” Williams said. “If we provided them with proper care in advance, it would only cost $300 to $400. Not only is this better for the taxpayer, it gives us a chance to get a productive member of society rather than somebody who will be dependent on welfare for the rest of his life.”