Outer Fence at Santee Men’s Jail Inoperative Since July : Security: Lightning strike botched electronic notification system; sheriff downplays risk at the minimum security facility.

An electronic security fence around the Las Colinas Men’s Jail in Santee hasn’t worked since July, but Sheriff Jim Roache insisted Friday that the faulty fence is not a problem for a handful of deputies who supervise about 600 inmates.

Roache and other county officials said the electronics that sense when the fence is touched were damaged when lightning struck the fence last summer. The County Department of General Services has twice attempted to repair the damaged equipment but with only limited success.

Sheriff officials said the jail is a minimum security facility that houses nonviolent inmates, including burglars, thieves and drug offenders. Some inmates are awaiting trial, and others are serving sentences of less than one year.

On Friday, Roache said that characterizing the inoperative fence “as some horrendous breach of security is an over-dramatization.”

However, he acknowledged that he would prefer that it was operational because “it makes it easier . . . to respond should there be an attempted escape.”

“It’s an early notification system. It increases the likelihood that, if someone touches the fence, you’re going to be aware . . . and be able to respond faster to that location,” Roache said.

When the fence was working, an alarm would sound at a deputy monitoring station if the fence were touched, said a General Services official.

“All the alarm system does is notify us when someone touches the fence,” said Roache. “ . . . It doesn’t do anything to detract from the security staff and other security impediments.”

Other fences also ring the three barracks-like facilities that house the inmates and that sit inside the 16-foot-high electronic fence. Each of the fences is topped with razor wire.

Sheriff’s Sgt. John Maschka, a supervisor at the Las Colinas men’s jail, said that, on a good day, 16 deputies handle 600 or more inmates. However, he said that on some days he has as few as eight or nine deputies on duty. At least one deputy patrols the perimeter in a four-wheel drive vehicle.

“The exterior (perimeter) fence is the final fence before they hit the great outdoors,” said Maschka. “Not having it working poses a risk; not so much because of inmates getting out, but if someone comes from the outside and cuts a hole in it. If somebody does that now, we won’t detect it unless somebody sees it.”

Both Maschka and Roache said jail officials have gone to great pains to make sure inmates don’t know the fence doesn’t function. Maschka said there have not been any escapes at the jail since the electronic fence quit working.

A television news station broadcast a report of the faulty fence Friday, despite a request from Roache that the station not air the story. A deputy whose face was blacked out was interviewed for the report and spoke about the fence.

Tom Dumont, deputy General Services director for facilities services, said Friday he expects the fence to be working by Monday or Tuesday. Dumont said technicians have figured out a way to bypass a computer that monitors the sensing electronics, which has made it difficult to repair the fence.

According to Dumont, the county sent some damaged electronic equipment to an outside firm for repairs after the lightning strike. He said the equipment was repaired, but, when it was hooked up again, the electronic system failed to work.

“We sent it back a second time. It came back, but only 50% of it worked,” added Dumont. “Then we found out that it interfaces with a computer, and learned that the computer interface cards had to be replaced or repaired.”

Dumont said some cards are now being repaired by another firm.

Meanwhile, he said, technicians have figured out a way to bypass the system from the computer. Now, if somebody touches the fence, the alarm will go off at the deputy’s monitoring station, but the monitor will be unable to tell officials the exact location of the security breach, Dumont said.