Duffy to Retire Deputies as S.D. County Jail Guards

In an abrupt reversal, San Diego County Sheriff John Duffy said in a letter released Monday that he intends to phase out all deputy sheriffs working in the county jails and replace them with lower-paid corrections officers.

Duffy’s announcement, combined with a county staff report Monday saying that the county can trim jail costs without creating a separate corrections department, is likely to undercut recent proposals to strip the Sheriff’s Department of jail operations.

In a letter written to Norman Hickey, the county’s chief administrative officer, Duffy said he will employ correctional officers because “it appears to be consistent with the position taken by candidates for the office of sheriff . . . and it is consistent with the desires of the County Board of Supervisors.”

Although Duffy said he will reluctantly go along with the plan to use correctional officers, he made it clear that he still harbors objections: “I am personally not convinced that this is in the best interest of the citizens of San Diego County.”

The Board of Supervisors is expected today to consider placing on the June ballot a measure calling for a separate corrections department. Supervisors Leon Williams and George Bailey have supported such a measure, and the board requested a report on whether a corrections department would save the county money.

Since the county’s report concluded that savings can be achieved as long as the Sheriff’s Department agrees to employ correctional officers, Supervisors Susan Golding and Brian Bilbray seemed less inclined Monday to join the movement to create a corrections department. That movement accelerated the last year as reports about inmate mistreatment and budget overruns surfaced.

“There are going to be substantial savings if correctional officers are used, and that’s true whether they work for the Sheriff’s Department or the corrections department,” Golding said. “You don’t have to create a new department as long as the sheriff is willing to do it.”

Although Golding said she has not ruled out the possibility of creating a corrections department, she said she will oppose placing a measure on the June ballot.

“This is the first opportunity in 20 years for the public, the board, the sheriff’s candidates . . . everybody, really . . . to take part in a full-fledged debate to set new policy for the Sheriff’s Department,” Golding said.

“It’s an opportunity to find out what kind of commitment the candidates are willing to make to the community. If you place this on the June ballot, you would preempt that very valuable discussion.”

Bilbray said: “I don’t care whose jurisdiction it is in, I think what everybody wants is to see the correctional officers system work. The problem is, in the past, the sheriff has sabotaged such attempts.”

Supervisor John MacDonald had not had time to review the staff’s report and declined to comment Monday.

The staff report said employing lower-paid correctional officers--who would also require less training cost than deputies--as guards at the county’s six jails could save the county as much as $23 million over the next 10 years.

But, if the supervisors want greater control over how the problem-plagued jails are operated, the staff report concludes, a corrections department should be established to take over the jails from the sheriff.

The conclusion that accountability can only be gained by creating a corrections department further convinced Bailey that the responsibility of running the jails should not belong to the Sheriff’s Department.

“The name of the game is accountability,” Bailey said. “I don’t care who the sheriff is. That person is going to be an elected official, and we can’t police his actions. On the other hand, if we hire a civilian director (to run the corrections department) and that person cannot produce, we can fire that person.

“I personally would like to see it on the June ballot, and I would want it to be a binding measure,” Bailey added.

Williams said: “I’m in favor of accountability and would like to see this issue addressed as quickly as possible. But I would like to study the (staff) report more thoroughly, and I also want to hear the other board members’ rationale before I make a final decision.”

Although the sheriff has been employing lower-paid correctional deputies, his opponents have criticized him for not hiring and using enough of them.

According to the county report, sheriff deputies’ salaries range from $30,652 to $49,257 based on experience; the salaries of correctional officers would range from $26,998 to $37,258.

In his letter to county officials, Duffy said that he now employs 120 corrections officers to augment the 427 deputy sheriffs working in the jails. His letter made no commitment about how long it will take to fill all the jail positions with corrections officers, but he said he will do so as positions in the field open up for the deputies to move into.

He acknowledged that differences in training costs will produce savings, but he said correctional deputies will be less prepared to handle their jobs.

According to Duffy, a deputy sheriff receives 18 weeks of academy training and another two weeks of jail training when he is assigned to jail duty. Correctional officers would receive eight weeks of academy training.

“Obviously, 12 weeks is a significant loss of training that can never be made up,” Duffy said in the letter.

Although Duffy agreed in his letter to switch to a correctional officers format, he continued to insist that, if all his sworn personnel were regular sheriff’s deputies, he or his successor would have greater law enforcement flexibility in the event that the department had to respond to a “a major civil disturbance or natural disaster.”

The move to create a corrections department was in part spurred by complaints that sheriff’s deputies serving as guards formed “Rambo squads” that randomly harassed and beat inmates. The supervisors’ interest was also piqued when they heard about the financial success achieved by Santa Clara County, which removed control of jails from its sheriff and turned it over to a new corrections department in January, 1989.

According to a San Diego County Grand Jury report last Tuesday calling for the creation of a corrections department, Santa Clara County began hiring correctional officers in November, 1987, and saved $6 million during the first 18 months of operation in salaries alone. A savings of more than $10 million is expected by June.