SAN DIEGO COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Opening the Door to a New Jail

It may seem strange to propose closing three jails when thousands of arrested people have to be released each year because San Diego County’s jail system is one of the most crowded in the nation.

But Sheriff Jim Roache is on the right track with his proposal to shut, at least temporarily, the jails at Santee, El Cajon and South Bay and transfer the inmates to the newly built, but unstaffed, East Mesa jail.

If the county can find the money to open East Mesa, at least 300 extra beds will be added to the jail system, the escape-prone El Cajon jail can be converted to other uses and the county can make good on its promise toSantee to close the temporary jail there. Nothing is wrong with South Bay, and presumably it will eventually be reopened, but the county can’t afford to operate both it and East Mesa.

The three closures don’t free up quite enough county money to open East Mesa, but it’s a promising start.

Eventually the huge East Mesa jail will provide economies of scale. Housing and guarding inmates in the modern facility will be less expensive per person than at many of the older, less efficient jails. It will also provide additional beds to start reversing years of overcrowding. Even with the closing of South Bay, Santee and El Cajon, the first phase of East Mesa will still provide a net increase of 376 jail beds.

But the initial per-inmate costs are higher at East Mesa because the kitchen, laundry and medical facilities are designed to serve the thousands of inmates planned for the finished facility.

So, the county still needs to find an extra $3 million to operate East Mesa for the first year and $8 million for the second year.

That’s not easy when the county is virtually broke.

But perhaps through the creativity and cooperation that Roache has brought to this problem, the sheriff and the county will be able to piece together a patchwork of mini-solutions that get the jail open.