Now That Jails Comply, a Warning Is Issued

Commending the county for meeting court-ordered limits on jail inmates, a Superior Court judge stressed Tuesday that he expects compliance to be permanent, not temporary, and urged county officials to be aggressive in scouting, funding and opening new jail sites.

With the inmate population at the central jail downtown below the cap of 750 ordered after a trial 10 years ago, and with levels at five outlying county jails near or below other judge-ordered limits, El Cajon Superior Court Judge James A. Malkus said he is pleased but not satisfied.

The numbers mark the first time county officials have been under the court-ordered limits in several years.

To keep the figures in line, Malkus strongly suggested, the county should make it a priority to find funds to staff the East Mesa jail, a 1,040-bed facility under construction and scheduled to be completed early next year. So far, county officials have been unable to produce operating funds for the site.

Malkus also said county officials ought to consider building tent camps for less-violent offenders and to find other creative solutions to the jail-crowding crisis, because it has bred a “crisis mentality” and stopgap solutions rather than long-range planning.

“I would hope everyone understands this is something that is not getting better,” Malkus said. “Crime is not going away.”

Deputy County Counsel Nathan C. Northup told Malkus that county supervisors are trying to be creative but are finding that creativity can be costly.

Navy officials had discussed making available to the county the brig at the 32nd Street Naval Base, which can accommodate 230 inmates, but it would cost the county $2.75 million to $3 million to refurbish the facility, just so the county could use it temporarily, Northup said.

Malkus said that money might be better spent on opening the East Mesa jail, near the U.S.-Mexico border and 7 miles east of Interstate 805.

“A good, hard look ought to be taken at finding the resources to open the East Mesa facility quickly, to stop operating under a crisis mentality,” Malkus said. “The county deserves better.”

Northup said the financially strapped county is doing the best it can. But, he said, it is waiting for the state Supreme Court to rule on the legality of Proposition A, a half-cent sales tax increase voters approved in 1988 for new jails and courtrooms.

About $194 million, sitting in an interest-bearing account, has been collected while courts have reviewed the tax’s legality, said Rich Robinson, director of the county’s Office of Special Projects, which, since 1986, has been charged with addressing jail-related issues.

Malkus said it is not “fiscal good jugment to count on money you can’t utilize.” Further, since five of the court’s seven justices voted to hear the case two weeks ago, “I don’t think that necessarily augurs well” for the measure’s legality, he said.

In the meantime, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union--which prompted Malkus’ monitoring by bringing two lawsuits against the county complaining of jail crowding--one suit for the central jail and the other for the outlying sites--said Tuesday that they are heartened that the county has, over the past month, dramatically cut inmate totals at the jails.

“Really, this is essentially the first time it has been in compliance in many, many years,” said Betty Wheeler, an ACLU lawyer.

At an Oct. 29 hearing, Malkus authorized the Sheriff’s Department, which operates the jails, to reduce by 10% the sentences of less-dangerous prisoners and to expand its use of electronic surveillance to allow more in-home custody cases.

Sheriff’s officials said Tuesday that they had made particular use of the authority to reduce sentences in cutting the “adjusted” counts at the six jails--particularly at the central jail, which held 663 inmates Tuesday, well below the cap of 750.

The adjusted count, the limit Malkus has identified as the relevant cap in the case, does not include prisoners in certain medical or psychiatric units, those pending release or in transit between jails.

Except for the South Bay jail, which was six inmates over the cap of 373, the adjusted totals at the other jails--at Vista, Descanso, El Cajon and the women’s jail at Las Colinas--were each under court-ordered limits, according to Sheriff’s Department figures.

Those six South Bay inmates were expected to be out of the jail today, Northup told Malkus.

The actual--not adjusted--total of inmates in the county jails Tuesday was 3,828, one below the court-ordered cap of 3,829, according to sheriff’s officials. At times, the actual total has been about 4,500 inmates, they said.

“Certainly we’re all very pleased with the numbers,” said ACLU lawyer Wheeler. “The question is, is this an aberration or the beginning of true compliance? We’re going to be looking at the numbers not only this week but in three months, six months, a year.”

She urged caution. If county officials “don’t start planning and allocating funds, you can predict noncompliance as surely as you can predict the sun will come up,” she said.