Roache Favors Closing Porous El Cajon Jail

Distressed over frequent inmate escapes, San Diego County Sheriff Jim Roache said Wednesday that he is “absolutely committed” to closing the county’s troubled El Cajon jail, at least temporarily.

Roache’s pledge to shut the El Cajon jail, an idea favored by some top county officials for whom the jail has become a major source of embarrassment, came shortly after the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to explore ways to expand and centralize the county’s crowded detention facilities.

By a 4-0 vote, with Supervisor Brian Bilbray absent, the board voted to study a full range of jail alternatives with the new sheriff and Chief Administrative Officer Norman Hickey’s staff over the next two months. Alternatives to be studied include closing a controversial temporary men’s jail in Santee and converting County Jail downtown to a booking and pre-arraignment facility.

If the El Cajon jail were closed for repairs, its inmates probably be transferred to the county’s new East Mesa detention facility, which is scheduled to open later this year--a timetable threatened by funding shortages and several lawsuits.

Because of those financial and legal uncertainties, Roache cautioned after the meeting that, even if the board recommends closure of the El Cajon jail, such a move would be unlikely before this fall. In particular, he emphasized that neither the El Cajon jail nor the 600-bed temporary men’s jail in Santee could be shut until the new 1,040-bed East Mesa facility opens.

“Even if we had the authority to do it today, we’d be hard-pressed to get in (East Mesa) any sooner than September or October,” Roache said.

Roache, who this month replaced 20-year Sheriff John Duffy, said he concluded that the 250-bed El Cajon jail needs to be closed after the most recent escape. Last week a 20-year-old inmate charged with numerous felonies broke through the wall of his cell, climbed down a rope made of bedsheets tied together and jumped or fell to a tree, from which he fled.

That escape, the 15th since the jail opened in 1983, again focused unflattering public attention on the multimillion-dollar El Cajon facility, which county officials admit suffers from a seriously flawed design and shoddy construction. Inmates have told deputy sheriffs that the jail is so poorly constructed that they can knock a hole through walls in less than five minutes.

Roache, who earlier announced plans to move about 2 dozen of the El Cajon jail’s most dangerous criminals to three higher-security detention facilities, said closure of the jail will be one of a number of options that he will examine with Hickey’s staff over the next six to eight weeks. The recommendations stemming from those discussions then will be presented to the board for action.

If the El Cajon jail were closed temporarily, Roache said, it might be possible to renovate and retrofit it in order to eliminate the security problems. It is not feasible to make those necessary improvements, Roache said, while inmates still occupy the jail.

However, if the needed structural changes proved to be economically or architecturally unrealistic, the jail simply might remain closed or used for other purposes, county officials said.

Saying that the situation at the El Cajon jail “obviously isn’t going to get any better,” Supervisor Susan Golding suggested that it either be leased to a private company, on the condition that the firm agree to make the necessary improvements, or rented to the federal government, which needs additional jail beds.

However, the closure or changed status of the El Cajon jail, as well as some of the other alternatives to be examined, hinge heavily on the fate of the soon-to-be completed East Mesa jail.

County officials envisioned that operation of the new jail would be financed by funds from Proposition A, a half-cent sales tax narrowly approved by San Diego voters in 1988. Over its 10-year life, the measure is projected to raise $1.6 billion for new jails and courtrooms.

Opponents of the tax, however, challenged it in court on the grounds that its 50.6% approval margin fell short of the two-thirds vote mandated by Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 property tax-cutting initiative.

Pending a California Supreme Court hearing later this year, funds generated from the tax are being held in an escrow account--leaving the county, at least in the short term, without sufficient funds to staff or operate the East Mesa jail.

Further complicating the matter is another lawsuit dealing with a dispute over the amount the county will have to pay developer Roque de la Fuente II for seizing the land on which the East Mesa jail is being built.

When the county took the 525 acres in 1987 under its eminent domain powers, it put up $6.4 million. However, last September, a Superior Court jury awarded De la Fuente $55.6 million, a figure that officials say the financially beleaguered county cannot afford.

Last month, a Superior Court judge ruled that the settlement was excessive and gave De La Fuente the choice of accepting a reduced $22.9-million award or going to a second trial. De La Fuente has decided to appeal the case, an action likely to prolong the doubt over when and whether the East Mesa jail might open.

“What a mess,” sighed Rich Robinson, the county’s special projects director. “It just seems like a black cloud has been hanging over us from Day One on this thing.”

Facing that long-range uncertainty, the board also took action Wednesday defending its 2-year-old decision to open the temporary men’s jail in Santee--envisioned as a stopgap measure needed to relieve jail crowding until the East Mesa jail is available.

Opened in January, 1989, the temporary men’s jail, built next to the Las Colinas Jail in Santee, has drawn the ire of Santee officials and residents who complain that the jail is unsightly, unsafe and has hampered the city’s redevelopment efforts.

Although county officials have promised to close the $5.4-million, barracks-style jail within seven years, Santee officials, expressing doubts over whether that pledge will be honored, filed a lawsuit seeking its closure.

That lawsuit resulted in the project’s original environmental impact report being invalidated. The supervisors Wednesday approved a new environmental report that, although recognizing that the jail is incompatible with Santee’s nearby development plans, concludes that the pressing need for additional jail space makes the project necessary and proper.