Angry Chula Vista Council Threatens to Post Police at Jail : Escapes: Action comes in the wake of three escapes that saw 28 prisoners, many dangerous felons, flee from the crowded and poorly maintained County Jail in the South Bay city.

Frustrated Chula Vista City Council members threatened Monday to assign their police officers to guard the outside of the porous County Jail in their community and bill the county, unless steps are taken to stop the frequent jailbreaks that have local residents living in fear.

Councilwoman Gayle McCandliss spoke about the “outrage of this council” over the escapes and warned of the “danger to the health and welfare of this community” posed by the rash of prisoner escapes at the County Jail in Chula Vista.

Since December, there have been three separate escapes at the facility, involving a total of 28 inmates. The latest break occurred last week, when eight inmates escaped. Last week’s escape happened less than a month after 11 prisoners escaped March 2. About a dozen of the escapees, including several charged with murder, are still at large.

In a special City Council meeting Monday night, council members voted to assign Chula Vista police officers to patrol the outside of the jail if necessary to deter further escapes and bill the county.

“If necessary, the city is prepared to assign police officers to the area to observe the facility and bill the county,” said McCandliss.

Council members also voted to look into the possibility of using city monies, including redevelopment funds, to increase security around the jail. However, no specifics were offered.

The council action occurred before the beginning of a community meeting called by Supervisor Brian Bilbray to tell local residents what the county is doing to improve security at the jail. Assistant Sheriff Ken Wiggington, who supervisors all county jail facilities, Sheriff’s Capt. Chuck Wood, commander of the jail in Chula Vista, and County Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Bob Griego answered questions from worried residents.

However, their answers were not always well received by the crowd of about 100, and they spent much of the time on the defensive.

“It’s obvious that the planning that went into the design of the building was deficient,” said Wood. “ . . . I inherited a crummy job.”

Wood and Wiggington repeatedly blamed the severe crowding at the jail and the shortage of manpower as the main reasons for the frequent escapes. The jail was built in 1982 to house 192 inmates and has held as many as 1,050 prisoners at one time. On Monday, the facility had 694 inmates, Wiggington said.

The inmates are supervised by a total of 51 deputies and supervisors, who work three shifts, he added. According to Wood, since Feb. 14, 1989, deputies have foiled 11 escape attempts at the jail.

An embarrassed Wiggington acknowledged that the frequency of jailbreaks at the Chula Vista jail were some kind of “national record” that the Sheriff’s Department was not proud of.

“For us, it’s an embarrassment. For you it’s a fear in the community,” he said.

Wood pleaded for more deputies to work at the facility.

“If I had 150 to work with, I’d love to have them,” Wood said. “But I have to work with what I have.” But residents were not mollified by listening to Wood’s and Wiggington’s pleadings and explanations.

One speaker proposed hiring private security guards to replace sheriff’s deputies at the jail. “Someone is inept in handling the jail facility,” the speaker said.

However, his proposal was quickly rejected by Wiggington.

“I don’t see how anybody else is going to run the jails any better. . . . The jails are really in sorry condition . The county doesn’t have a system of preventive maintenance. . . . We’re trying to overcome years of neglect,” said Wiggington.

He was referring to the dozens of deficiencies found at the Chula Vista jail, including inferior steel that can be easily cut with hacksaws that have been used in the last two escapes, and ineffective motion detectors and remote cameras.

Wiggington acknowledged that the jail was designed to house nonviolent prisoners, mostly inmates charged with misdemeanors. But, as the jail population grew and county facilities were filled beyond capacity, sheriff’s officials were forced to house felons convicted of violent crimes at the Chula Vista jail.

On March 21, county facilities housed 4,304 inmates, of which 3,730 were charged with felonies and violent crimes. The Sheriff’s Department has no choice but to put violent prisoners inside the Chula Vista jail, said Wiggington.

This explanation raised another question from a resident who demanded to know how the Sheriff’s Department could upgrade the type of felon housed at the jail without upgrading security at the facility.

“We put them in the facilities available to us,” Wiggington said.

During the meeting, Bilbray told the crowd that the county had budgeted $658,000 to improve the Chula Vista jail and authorized improvements two weeks ago. However, Griego said that it will probably take an $200,000 more to make the jail secure. Bilbray promised that the extra money will be made available.

This prompted demands from some residents who wanted to know what the County is doing with the half-percent sales tax that county residents are paying to finance the construction of jails.

That money has been tied up as the result of a ruling by a Riverside Judge that the voter-passed initiative which provided for a tax increase to pay for jails violated the Proposition 13 mandate that tax increases must be passed by a two-thirds majority. The judge’s ruling is being appealed.

Monday night’s meeting also drew some light moments.

One man who arrived minutes before the meeting began spotted his neighbors in the audience and asked them if they were “as scared as I am” about the jailbreaks.

“Not anymore. I understand they (the prisoners) will all be gone soon,” said the woman.

Some residents advocated an alarm system, like a siren, that could be used to warn them of a jailbreak.

“Nah. We don’t need an alarm system,” said one woman. “Whenever we hear the helicopter flying at night we know there’s been an escape. That’s all the alarm you really need. Just listen for the helicopter.”

Another woman asked Wood if he wanted local residents to turn on their floodlights to help officers look for escaped prisoners.

“How would you know when there’s an escape,” said one man.

“Like the other lady said. Just listen for the helicopter,” said another man.