Hold Court in Jail to Ease Overcrowding, Panel Says : Justice: Study finds more work furloughs and electronic surveillance also could reduce inmate crunch.

A new study released Monday proposes that the county begin in-jail arraignments and beef up its work-furlough programs, electronic surveillance and other methods of easing jail overcrowding.

But the report, prepared over the last 16 months by a task force of county law-enforcement officials, offers a grim prediction about the ultimate success of such options, saying they cannot work without more jails in Orange County.

“Without additional jail bed construction, there’s going to be a whole lot of people out there in your back yards who should be in jail,” said Municipal Judge Richard W. Stanford Jr., a task force member.

Indeed, the task force report warns that unless the county commits itself to building more jails, “the serious public danger which results from (jail) overcrowding will increase.”

The county’s jail search reached a standstill last year when financial and legislative problems forced the Board of Supervisors to drop the idea of building a jail in Gypsum Canyon near Anaheim Hills--after four years and $7.3 million spent studying the proposal.

County officials now want to double the number of beds at the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange, but city officials there are suing to block the plan. And county officials say that despite a 3,478-bed shortage by the year 2000, they are not sure where they will find the money to build any more jails.

As a result of the dilemma, the supervisors created a task force in December, 1990, to look at ways of punishing and sentencing criminals--outside of jail. Among the recommendations Monday were:

* Starting a pilot program for arraigning suspects in the jail, with a judge present, rather than busing defendants to the county’s Municipal courts. This would cut down on transportation costs and could speed the judicial process to help reduce jail congestion, task force members said.

* Using two-way video monitors to conduct arraignments, with the inmate and the defense attorney in the jail and the judge and prosecutor in court. This again would be aimed at cutting down on the time and cost of travel and speeding up the judicial process.

* Expanding the number of inmates given work-furlough releases and “house arrest,” which uses electronic surveillance to monitor low-risk inmates. The study notes that in July, the house arrest program will begin using specialized phones that “will detect alcohol on the breath of any inmate who has been drinking.”

However, the task force rejected the idea of expanding court schedules. This idea, widely discussed in recent years, would have judges and court officers work some nights and weekends in order to avoid the prospect of having inmates arrested over the weekend wait days to be arraigned.

But the task force concluded that few inmates--even after arraignment--are released until they have served some time in jail anyway, so quicker arraignments would not free up many beds.

The in-jail and video arraignments appear to have received the most attention from county officials.

Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi said Monday that people in his office have been “vigorous advocates” of the idea.

The Board of Supervisors at its meeting next week is expected to consider a recommendation to move ahead with a pilot program for the jail and video arraignments, although the cost of the programs is uncertain.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Roger R. Stanton said he had not yet seen the task force report and was uncertain which of the incarceration alternatives may prove the most promising.

“The bottom line is that whatever we can do for the least cost we’ve got to consider, but I’m not committing myself to anything,” he said.

Judge Stanford said he believes that some county officials, in creating the task force, saw the incarceration alternatives as a cure-all that could save the county from having to build more jails--at least for now.

But Stanton said that was never the expectation of the board.

“We know there is an upper limit, a max to what you can get out of these programs,” he said. “There is no doubt that these things are not any great panacea to this problem. . . . That’s not a surprise to me at all.”