Santee, County Take Their Battle Over Temporary Jail to Legislative Committee

Bad blood between San Diego governmental officials boiled over Wednesday during a legislative committee hearing on whether the state should intervene in the controversy surrounding the temporary men’s jail in Santee.

The East County municipality wants lawmakers to step in and force San Diego County officials to the negotiating table to haggle over a date when the temporary 600-bed facility will be shut down and moved out of town.

The county is crying foul, accusing Santee of trying to use the Legislature as an unnecessary cudgel in a local dispute.

As of late Wednesday night, lawmakers had yet to decide whether to step into what one of them called a “cat fight.”

At issue is a bill sponsored by Sen. Lucy Killea (D-San Diego) that would force officials from the county and Santee to enter into “voluntary” mediation and come up with an agreement by February for the dismantling of the temporary jail, which was built next to the Los Colinas Women’s Detention Facility to house an overflowing prison population. Originally, county officials said the jail would be removed by 1996. But, with plans going slowly for permanent replacements elsewhere, Santee residents are afraid the county will want to push back that date or renege on the pledge altogether.

Bob J. Wilson, one-time state senator representing Santee and now a Sacramento lobbyist, testified that the city is anxious to get rid of the men’s facility. The county has concentrated 28% of its prison population into one of its smallest cities, and the jail is only 500 feet from private residences and two blocks from an elementary school, he said.

Since the jail was erected last year, there have been four escapes, a 20-prisoner riot and an influx of prison visitors and drug dealers in the area, he said.

“Santee is one of the less glamorous places in the county,” said Killea, explaining why there may not be enough local sympathy to uproot the temporary facility. “It’s not the beautiful, affluent North County . . . and the county comes along and slaps it in the face.”

“We’re telling them you have to voluntarily get together,” Killea said about the bill. “It’s a slight contradiction, but it is saying you have to sit at the table and work this out.”

But County Supervisor Brian Bilbray told the panel that passing the bill would be “immoral,” since it favors Santee over other cities with jails--such as Vista and Chula Vista. He said the county cannot commit on a date to get out of Santee because it is negotiating to build permanent replacement jails in Clairemont Mesa and East Otay Mesa.

“This is a Pandora’s box you don’t want to open,” an animated Bilbray warned the committee.

Bilbray said later that lawmakers should stay out of local disputes, especially since county officials are willing to stick their necks out and make some unpopular decisions.

“If Sacramento is going to get involved in this, then why don’t they site the jails? Why don’t they site the landfills? Then the local officials don’t have to take the heat.”