ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : The Judge Who Made the Difference

Probably no person in Orange County’s history has had more influence on the county’s jail system than U.S. District Judge William P. Gray. As a result of his oversight of continuing class action lawsuits filed on behalf of jail inmates, Gray in 1978 ordered the Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Brad Gates to improve conditions in the main county jail. He subsequently ordered them to cap the population at that facility and, when they didn’t respond quickly enough, held them in contempt. Inmates, he said, should not be “cramped together like sheep in a pen”--a view he backed up with fines and other measures aimed at forcing the county to comply with higher standards.

When the county grudgingly responded, Gray also publicly gave it credit and lifted sanctions. But he never took away his watchful eye. Last week, he toured several other jails to determine whether they were so overcrowded that caps should be imposed on them, too. He should be deciding that issue within weeks.

But he is expected to make that his last jails decision. Gray, now 79, recently underwent surgery for a benign brain tumor. He has announced that he will retire and turn his voluminous files over to U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor.

Gray is leaving a jail system that once was so overcrowded that inmates were forced to sleep in showers or on the floor. Now, all inmates have bunks. Also, as a result of Gray’s rulings, the use of so-called “rubber rooms,” in which naked inmates were held, has been modified. Gray rightly called these rooms “inhumane” and “almost medieval.” There are also greatly altered procedures for booking prisoners into jail.

While Gray has been the Board of Supervisors’ adversary in jail matters, its members grew to respect the jurist, even as he challenged them to do better. Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, a former Marine brigadier general, gave Gray his highest compliment: “He’s been like a good Marine.”

Gray’s integrity and unflinching judgments will be missed. He has set the county on the right course by insisting that its jail system meet the tests of a civilized society.