Orange County Jails: Bursting at the Seams

Orange County jails are filled to overflowing. Once-empty cells now are double-bunked, and the county finds itself perpetually in the grips of an overcrowding crisis. Theo Lacy Branch Jail soon will be expanded, the result of a settlement finally reached this month, but the new cells will be full the day they open. New jail construction is stymied by local opposition, and even if a site could be found, county voters still show little interest in paying for it. Here, a look at what many consider the county government’s biggest dilemma.

“We need to look at every single option: putting more responsibility on the cities to build holding cells, looking at a desert jail, speeding up the court system. . . . The pricetag on Gypsum Canyon is $1 billion. . . . It’s a laugher. . . . I can’t believe that we’re going to get people to tax themselves to build a Taj Mahal in a residential area.”

--Don R. Roth, County Supervisor

“Unfortunately, in our society we need jails, but nobody wants them in their back yards. . . . What people don’t seem to realize is that in one year, I have to release over 50,000 inmates into everybody’s back yard. . . . We need a new, state-of-the-art jail in Orange County.”

--Rocky Hewitt, Assistant Sheriff

Too Many Prisoners, Too Few Cells

On any given day, Orange County’s jail population far exceeds its rated capacity

Figures for Sunday June 10, 1990: State-certified capacity: 3,199 Reality: 4,415

Projected population: 1992: 5,300-5.400 2000: 9,000

Orange County Jail Population Theo Lacy Branch Jail (Orange): 806 inmates Santa Ana Central Jail (men’s and women’s): 2,860 inmates Intake Release Center (also in Santa Ana Complex): 748 inmates James A. Musick Branch Jail (Irvine): 1,236 Note: All populations as of Sunday, June 10, 1990

Where Will the New Jail Go?

* Theo Lacy Branch Jail expansion: Settlement reaches this month lets it double in size, from 622 to 1,326 beds.

* Gypsum Canyon: Expensive and controversial, it’s the only site in Orange County singled out for a new, maximum-security facility.

* The desert: Favorite of Supervisor Don R. Roth and other searching for cheaper, politically palatable alternative to new jails in the county. . . . Major questions: Will Riverside County agree to it? Is it feasible to build a jail so far from the county’s courts?

Residents Balk at Paying for New Jails

Would you support a half-cent increase in the Orange County sales tax to pay for the construction and maintenance of new county jail facilities? 50% say no 37% say yes 13% undecided

Source: Survey conducted this month by Sacramento-based pollster J. Moore Methods. Margin of error is 3%.

With no Room in Jail, Criminals Go Free

Under pressure to hold down overcrowding, local law enforcement officials have resorted to early releases of many inmates. Many of the offenses are minor, but the numbers are staggering: In 1989, 52,165 criminals were freed because of overcrowding. That’s an average of about one every 10 minutes.

Orange County Behind Bars

Average daily jail population is skyrocketing: 1970: 1,027 1975: 1,192 1980: 1,681 1985: 2,730 1989: 4,372

Source: California Dept. of Corrections, Orange County Sheriff’s Department, J. Moore Methods