County to Lease Jail Space for U.S. Inmates : Sheriff: Agreement will provide money to allow some local prisoners to be relocated to new facilities on Otay Mesa.

Eager to collect money from the U.S. government to fully operate its new jails at last, San Diego County supervisors voted Wednesday to lease 650 jail beds to federal inmates for $13.6 million a year.

The arrangement ended six months of often stormy negotiations between two law enforcement agencies--the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and the U.S. marshal’s office. The two sides were unable to agree on how much the federal government would reimburse the county for each of its inmates housed at three local jails.

At one point in October, Sheriff Jim Roache called the plan dead because of the difference in numbers. But ultimately, the county agreed to a lower rate with the federal government’s promise to review the lease in six months.

“We reached an impasse on the numbers about a month ago, but there was a willingness to revisit the numbers,” Sheriff’s Department spokesman Dan Greenblat said. “We went forth with the numbers the feds wanted.”

With the lease agreement in place, about 400 federal inmates can be transferred to Descanso Detention Facility in Alpine almost immediately. About 280 county inmates have been moved from Descanso to a new medium-security jail on Otay Mesa.

At some point--possibly next year--about 150 county inmates from the Central Jail will be moved to Otay Mesa, to be replaced by federal inmates. Eventually, another 100 federal inmates will fill the Barrett honor camp near Alpine.

By next July, the leases will generate $6.3 million, much of which will go to the Probation Department for operating the Descanso jail. The Sheriff’s Department will get the rest, which will be used to run the East Mesa medium-security jail.

More importantly, as more money comes in each month, the sheriff will be able to open and operate the 1,500-bed East Mesa maximum-security jail in the same corrections complex near the U.S.--Mexico border.

Both jails were dedicated Monday by county officials.

Corrections officials estimate that the larger facility may open by July, possibly sooner, if the cash comes in more quickly than expected. When it does, county inmates from the jail in El Cajon and the Las Colinas men’s jail in Santee will be transferred there.

County supervisors, who approved the deal in a 4-0 vote, praised the renewed efforts of Roache and others in working out the details, despite the sheriff’s earlier criticism of the funding proposal.

The agreement is an example of “finding answers rather than excuses to accomplish something,” Supervisor Brian Bilbray said. “People are sick and tired of not seeing the job done. Even though the odds are overwhelming, we’re finding ways to make the impossible occur.”

Although the federal money is a start, county officials still are counting on $350 million collected through a half-cent sales tax since voters approved Proposition A three years ago.

The state Supreme Court is to decide in January whether the money was approved legally. Opponents of the measure argued that it should have been approved by a two-thirds vote, rather than a simple majority.

That money is to go to more than a dozen projects, from new juvenile and traffic courtrooms to booking facilities and jails. One-fourth of the $350 million can be used to operate East Mesa once the board certifies that most of the projects have “progressed substantially,” according to the language of the ballot referendum.