O.C. Jail Allies Stunned at Loss of Chief Backers

Backers of the Gypsum Canyon jail, most notably Sheriff Brad Gates, were sent reeling Wednesday by news that support for the project on the County Board of Supervisors appears to be collapsing.

“I’m shocked,” Gates said after reading reports that Supervisors Harriett M. Wieder and Thomas F. Riley, longtime backers of the project, were reconsidering their positions. “If they stop now and go to somewhere else, it’s going to take years. This system is in serious trouble right now.”

Assemblyman Tom Umberg (D-Garden Grove), who has sponsored a bill that would make it easier for the supervisors to condemn land for a new jail, said he too was surprised by the news that Riley and Wieder were wavering. That bill passed both houses of the state Legislature and now is awaiting action by Gov. Pete Wilson.

“I would hope that this would not affect the governor’s decision,” Umberg said, adding that while his legislation would apply to any jail site that the supervisors select, it was tailored to deal with the Gypsum Canyon proposal. “But I’m not naive. . . . The timing could be better.”

Wieder and Riley, while still eager to support new jail construction and expansion, on Wednesday reiterated their fear that the county simply cannot afford the Gypsum Canyon facility. A new county administrative office report, a final draft of which was presented to the supervisors Tuesday, concluded that operating just the first of two phases of the jail would cost taxpayers $119 million a year.

The county has no money budgeted for the project, and the only source considered capable of supplying the funds is a sales tax increase. Last May, county voters overwhelmingly rejected that option, in a measure proposing a half-cent increase, and few officials seem eager to put it on the ballot again.

“The handwriting is on the wall,” Wieder said Wednesday.

Riley agreed.

“I just don’t see any room to maneuver at all,” he said. “The thing seems impossible when you see these numbers.”

The loss of either of their two votes would almost certainly mean the end of the canyon jail proposal, which has enjoyed a 3-2 margin of support on the Board of Supervisors since 1987. In that vote, the supervisors name Gypsum Canyon as their preferred jail site.

Board Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez, a longtime opponent of the Gypsum Canyon jail, said he hoped the comments by Wieder and Riley, published Wednesday in The Times Orange County Edition, marked the end of the board’s long standoff.

“I certainly am pleased by the favorable response to the idea of finally closing the books on Gypsum Canyon,” he said.

That would leave the county in a scramble for a new site, however, and so far the options appear almost as nettlesome as Gypsum Canyon itself. Inability to build the planned 6,720-bed jail to relieve overcrowding would force the county to expand all three of its existing facilities dramatically.

Each would cost more money to build and operate, and each would probably meet with opposition from at least one member of the board.

Among the board’s alternatives are massive expansions of either the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange, the James A. Musick Branch Jail near Irvine or the Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana. Each option would take different lengths of time to complete, and in all likelihood the county would have to expand all three to make up for the loss of Gypsum Canyon.

Vasquez said that a vote to reopen the county’s search for a new jail site next week was “not outside the realm of possibility.” However, he added that it was too soon to speculate on where that search might lead.

In addition, Vasquez said that the county would have to explore new ways to build and operate any new facilities--wherever they are located. Contracting out the construction or operations with a private company is one possibility, he said.

Whether the board will take any formal action next week, when it discusses the financing report that has touched off the flurry of activity, remains unclear. Wieder indicated Wednesday that while she might support an informal direction to the staff to explore other jail options, she does not intend to initiate a formal motion to abandon Gypsum Canyon.

“If there’s an opportunity in the discussion to give some direction, that would be one possibility,” Wieder said. She added, however, that she “would not want to preempt the governor,” a reference to the Umberg bill that is awaiting Wilson’s signature or veto.

While county officials try to gauge where to head now on the jail overcrowding issue that has bedeviled them for more than a decade, some officials wondered whether Riley and Wieder were caving in to political pressure.

“It makes me wonder what kind of politics are going on here,” said Gates, who added that he was not included in briefings that outlined the financial analysis of the jail. “I’m very curious this morning about who’s behind all this.”

Although Gates did not name names, some observers questioned whether Wilson’s staff or the Irvine Co., which owns the Gypsum Canyon land, might have leaned on the supervisors to get them to back off the project. Wilson stands to anger either opponents or supporters of the Gypsum Canyon jail by his decision on the Umberg bill, and the company opposes the jail, preferring to build houses on the land.

Knowledgeable officials closest to the issue, however, said they did not believe either Wilson or the company had been a factor.

“I have not heard anything like that happening,” Umberg said about the speculation of Wilson’s involvement. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that it hasn’t occurred . . . but it would be surprising to me if he would do that.”

Wilson has until the middle of next month to decide whether to sign Umberg’s jail bill, and Umberg said he did not think the governor’s staff had focused on it in detail yet.

Other local observers agreed.

“I don’t think that this local development is likely even to have surfaced on the governor’s desk yet,” said Tom Fuentes, chairman of the Orange County Republican Party.

Wilson, in Costa Mesa on Wednesday night for a gala at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, was seemingly caught by surprise when asked if he planned to sign or veto the legislation. “Umberg bill, what Umberg bill?” Wilson gibed.

Irvine Co. executives and observers outside the company said they doubted the firm had played any role in the apparent shifts by Wieder and Riley. The company has been neutral on the Umberg bill, and many political and development industry insiders believe the firm stands to gain no matter how the jail issue is resolved.

“I had no knowledge of it,” Irvine Co. spokesman Larry Thomas said, adding that he had breakfast with other senior officers of the company and they too were surprised to learn of Riley’s and Wieder’s new reservations about the canyon jail proposal.

Both supervisors also denied that their concerns about the project are in any way related to outside pressure.

“The report, even though it didn’t have information that was drastically different in some ways, was like a 2-by-4 to remind us of the obstacles to this project,” Wieder said. “I would be loath to put good money after bad.”

County Jails: What Now?

With political support apparently collapsing for construction of a 6,720-bed Gypsum Canyon jail in Anaheim Hills, several expansion alternatives may get renewed scrutiny.

Theo Lacy Branch Jail: The 622-bed jail for medium- and minimum-security inmates is being doubled in size. The city of Orange originally fought the project and would be expected to resist further expansion or double-bunking.

Central Men’s Jail: The county’s largest jail often holds more than 1,300 prisoners. There is land expand nearby, but that would take longer than other options. Santa Ana has three county jails already, and city officials say enough is enough.

James A. Musick Branch: The 100-acre complex has open space for a new facility, and could take 300 more beds without additional planning. But residents of Lake Forest and El Toro live within sight of the Musick jail have fought moves to expand it.

Possible Long Shots: A regional jail in Riverside County is a favorite plan of Supervisor Don R. Roth, but a county report dismissed it as too expensive. The county also owns 7 acres near Anaheim Stadium. Once eyed for a jail, the idea was dropped after Anaheim protested.

Overcrowding

Orange County’s average daily jail population is skyrocketing and far exceeds the system’s rated capacity. 1970: 1,027 ‘75: 1,192 ‘80: 1,681 ‘85: 2,730 ‘89: 4,372 ‘92*: 5,400 2000*: 9,000 * Projected