City May Offer Its Cells to Free Up County Jail

The accommodations cost up to $100 a night, though none of the rooms have a view and there are no mints left on the pillows.

Still, the Huntington Beach Police Department is betting that misdemeanor offenders will pay such a rate to do their time in the city jail instead of the county jail. On Monday, the City Council is to decide whether to adopt such a program, which would be a first for Orange County.

The program, patterned after one started by the Pasadena Police Department, is designed to boost city revenue and help ease the county jail’s overcrowding problem, said Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg.

Because of overcrowding, “every city in the county has to be contemplating this,” said Costa Mesa Police Chief David Snowden, president of the Orange County Police Chiefs Assn. “It’s a necessary evil.”

Under the proposal, county jail prisoners could serve their time in the city jail by doling out $100 for the first 24-hour period and between $65 and $100 for each subsequent day of their stay. From the second day on, the cost would vary according to an applicant’s ability to pay.

For the more affluent participating inmate, the daily cost would approach that of a lavish room at the Waterfront Hilton, which towers over Pacific Coast Highway about 2 miles away. Rooms at the Waterfront start at $125 per night.

To be eligible for the program, inmates would need to have been booked by the Huntington Beach Police Department and have their request approved by the city’s jail supervisor. Lowenberg said that his department would accept only misdemeanor offenders who pose a minimum security risk.

The city jail is used as an overnight holding cell and it is never fully occupied, Lowenberg said.

If the jail were filled to capacity, the city could collect up to $166,000 per year, equivalent to about 14% of the annual jail budget, Lowenberg said. However, the city would still have to pay a jail booking fee to the county, since this action would occur after sentencing.

No additional staffing would be required unless the city expanded the jail beyond the 16 slots--12 male and four female--set aside for the program.

The Huntington Beach men’s facility that would be used for the program includes 12 bunks for men in a single housing unit. The unit is divided into three sections, each of which has a sink and a toilet. The inmates also have access to a small adjoining room with a table and stools. The women’s unit is similar, except it includes a single, four-person cell.

In the county jail system, low-risk misdemeanor offenders typically serve time at the James A. Musick Facility near El Toro. Many of the inmates at Musick are housed in four military-style tents.

If the City Council approves the jail-fee proposal, Huntington Beach will join Pasadena, Baldwin Park and Redondo Beach among Southland cities that have adopted such programs, Snowden said. Pasadena also uses a sliding scale of $65 to $100 a night.

The Municipal Court presiding judge in Westminster and the Orange County district attorney’s office have both agreed to participate in the Huntington Beach program.

Lowenberg’s proposal, however, hit a snag during this week’s City Council meeting. The council voted 5 to 2 to delay approving the program, at the request of Councilman Jack Kelly.

Kelly said he backs the program’s concept but argued that a flat $100 fee should be charged for the full duration of an inmate’s stay rather than a sliding-scale fee based on ability to pay.