Judges Threaten Sheriff on Early Releases : Jails: Offenders are cited and released because of a federal court order to relieve overcrowding. But jurists say Brad Gates could be sued or charged.

Increasingly incensed that thousands of people in custody for crimes are released early because of jail crowding, local judges are threatening to bring suit or contempt-of-court charges against Sheriff Brad Gates.

But Sheriff’s Department officials, while conceding that cite-and-release has become a major part of their law enforcement strategy, said they use the tactic only because they are under a federal court order to relieve overcrowding.

“We want to keep the people in jail,” Assistant Sheriff Rocky Hewitt said. “However, we can’t violate the court order. We’re really caught in the middle.”

Faced with overcrowding in the county jail system and under a 1978 federal court order to relieve them, Gates began using cite and release in 1988. Since then, 170,000 arrested people, most charged with misdemeanors, have been released early into the community rather than forced to serve their full sentences.

That infuriates local judges, who want the criminals they sentence to serve their full time.

“We’re not going to stand around and let this situation get worse,” Central Presiding Municipal Judge Richard W. Stanford said. “We’ve been talking about this for three or four months, and we need to do something.”

Stanford said municipal judges in the county have considered bringing contempt charges against both the sheriff and the Board of Supervisors.

Supervisors have debated the issue of locating and paying for a new jail for years, so far with no definite plan on how to proceed.

“We are unable to find a legal basis to bring a charge against the board at this time,” Stanford said. “But that doesn’t mean we’re giving up. We’re continuing to explore it in a general way.”

Gates has previously been charged with contempt for the early releases. The municipal judges are considering a plan to file contempt charges again against Gates within the next several weeks, Stanford said.

But while that would highlight the judges’ objections to cite and release, it is unclear whether it would end the policy.

“We’ve tried to keep all those people that Judge Stanford wants us to keep,” Hewitt said. “He’s keep trying to appease both sides, but we will not violate the federal court order.”