Supervisors Can Run Jails, Report Confirms : Government: The creation of a County Department of Corrections is expected to save millions of dollars with the Board of Supervisors assuming control of jails from the sheriff.

The Board of Supervisors has the legal authority to establish a County Department of Corrections and assume control of running the jails that are currently administered by the sheriff, a report released this week concludes.

In a lengthy report expected to be debated by the board next Tuesday, County Counsel Lloyd Harmon recommended achieving that goal by placing a County Charter amendment on the November ballot. Harmon said a ballot measure would be “preferable in order to minimize possible legal challenges.”

The County Chief Administrative Office estimated that seven new staff positions would have to be created to run the new department, at an estimated cost of $383,000 per year. The CAO also estimated the county would save between $13.5 million and $22.3 million in costs over the next decade by establishing the new department.

According to the report, it would take about four years to replace sheriff’s deputies who currently work in the jails with lesser paid correction officers. Some supervisors have complained that assigning deputies--who are sworn peace officers and highly trained--to the jails is a waste of taxpayers’ dollars.

There was no recommendation on who should be appointed director of the proposed corrections department. However, the county counsel suggested that either the sheriff, chief probation officer or an outside person hired by the board could be appointed director.

Sheriff John Duffy did not return phone calls, but it is no secret that Duffy, who is not running for reelection, strongly opposes stripping the jails from the Sheriff’s Department.

Currently, the sheriff is not legally bound to serve both as the county’s top peace officer and head of a Department of Corrections, said the report. But the county counsel recommended that, if the board opted to have the sheriff run a Department of Corrections, a charter amendment should be sought to legally require the sheriff to serve in the dual role.

As for any legal challenges to a new corrections department, the report noted that such a challenge was rejected by state courts in Santa Clara County. In 1988, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted to switch from a jail system run by the sheriff to a Department of Correction administered by civilians, as proposed by some San Diego County supervisors.

Santa Clara County officials estimated the conversion would save taxpayers $62 million over 10 years.

Supervisor Susan Golding said Wednesday there is strong support among board members for a corrections department. Golding said the projected savings for the first 10 years are real, but added that “over the long run it will be more expensive.

“But the most important thing this would accomplish is that we will have correction officers trained to work in a correctional facility,” Golding said. “Deputy sheriffs, who are beat cops and trained to catch criminals, will be doing the job they were trained for.”

Golding added that putting deputy sheriffs to work in a jail facility “is not a good climate.”

“This lends itself to abuse. There are some deputies who resent having to work in a jail and take out their frustrations on the prisoners. It leads to a Rambo Squad mentality. In the past, the sheriff has used jails as punishment assignments for deputies. You can imagine the kind of climate it created,” Golding said.

The Rambo Squad was a group of six deputies who worked in the El Cajon Jail. They were notorious for allegedly beating and abusing inmates and were given their nickname by the prisoners.

Golding said there is no consensus among board members over who should be hired or appointed to run the proposed Department of Corrections.

“It’s never been a turf question for me . . . I don’t have a particular desire to run the jail. It’s a desire to have our jails run correctly,” said Golding.

However, Golding said she wants “a professional trained to run a correctional facility” in charge of the department. She said the board may vote to give the new sheriff elected in November a chance to prove he can adequately supervise the county’s jails by allowing him to hire a trained professional to administer them.

“I wouldn’t be opposed to this, even if the administrator answered only to the sheriff and not the board. But it would have to be a professional administrator with national credentials who is experienced in running a correctional facility,” Golding said.