Supervisors to Weigh Jail-Management Shift : Detention: The board’s staff will gather the information supervisors need to decide whether creating a department of corrections should be put on the ballot.

The County Board of Supervisors directed its staff Tuesday to obtain information about whether San Diego County should create a department of corrections to solve its jail woes.

The five-member board unanimously approved the proposal co-authored by supervisors Leon Williams and George Bailey, who asked for fiscal and administrative information so the board can decide whether to place a measure on the June ballot calling for a corrections department.

The county staff is expected to present cost and operational comparisons between a jail system run by the Sheriff’s Department and a corrections department managed by civilian correctional officers.

The supervisors have shown increasing interest lately in establishing a corrections department that would give the board greater control over the management of the county’s detention facilities and over the corrections budget.

Sheriff John Duffy’s repeated cost overruns while managing the jails and a county Grand Jury’s report that told of sheriff’s deputies, part of so-called “Rambo Squads,” who randomly beat inmates spurred the board to seek other ways of managing the county’s growing criminal population.

“It is my feeling that this is something necessary to ensure proper administration of our detention facilities and to have proper control of our budget,” Bailey said.

Supervisors also took steps Tuesday to address the jail system’s other deficiencies, such as lack of proper medical care.

Heeding a consultant’s recommendation, the supervisors voted 3 to 0 to increase the 77-member jail medical staff by immediately hiring 57 people--16 administrators and 41 clinical workers. Supervisors Williams and Brian Bilbray were absent for the vote.

According to David Janssen, county administrative officer, it will cost the county $524,625 for 1989-90 to hire the new workers and $2,043,231 for the full year 1990-1991. The immediate expenditure will come from the county’s general fund, Janssen said, but the rest needs to be included in the upcoming budget hearings.

“Quite frankly, we don’t know how we’re going to afford it,” Janssen said.

But Janssen and supervisors said that, in the long run, by installing and using in-house medical staff and facilities, the county should save money that would otherwise be spent on hospital bills.

“By properly tracking and treating medical problems in its early stages, we should be able to avoid long hospitalization and major operations,” said Supervisor Susan Golding. “If we can stop such draining expenditures, the money we’re spending now may not be an additional cost, but, over time, may prove to be a saving.”

The jail system’s existing medical records were criticized and described as “completely unacceptable” by the consultant’s report.

The report also said: “This situation jeopardizes the system’s ability to provide continuity of care as well as to defend the services provided to inmates. It clearly does not constitute a legal, complete medical record as defined by accepted community practice.”

Although the supervisors declined to say whether they actually favor the creation of a corrections department, all five board members supported studying the proposal.

Advocates of a corrections department 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.

But Supervisor John MacDonald said: “I have yet to see the backup that would indicate that we will in fact save considerable amounts of money by doing this.”

The supervisors directed the county staff to complete its evaluation and return with a recommendation Feb. 13. That deadline must be met if supervisors are to place the measure on the June ballot, Janssen said.