ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Jails: Sentenced to Continuing Crisis

The inmate disturbance at Orange County Jail this week was a sobering reminder that the county’s jail overcrowding crisis will not go away simply because nothing is being done about it. The county’s political leadership must refocus its efforts on the issue or face the prospect of more tension and even violence.

Officials at the 4-year-old Intake/Release Center in downtown Santa Ana linked the seven-hour disturbance Wednesday to the fact that the jail, which was designed to house 388 prisoners, now is packed with more than 900 inmates. They also complain that they are short-staffed and don’t have the money to pay overtime to cover for employees who are sick.

The incident apparently was triggered by prisoners’ complaints about cold food and dress regulations. Once underway, it escalated when the inmates refused to leave a recreation room. Eventually, they tore bolted tables from the floor, ripped telephones from the walls and broke windows.

One positive note: The disturbance ended without injury to either inmates or the 60 officers who gathered at the jail in case things got out of hand. Credit for that can go to Capt. Bill Miller, the jail commander, who talked through a door to the inmates about their complaints. The prisoners, many of whom were awaiting transfer to state prison after being convicted of felonies, finally agreed to open the door and return to their cells.

But that leaves the larger question of understaffing and lack of jail beds, especially maximum-security beds, within the county. The county’s five jails are holding nearly 4,800 prisoners--1,600 over capacity. Although the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange has been expanded, it falls far short of filling the need.

There is no viable plan for a new jail on the drawing boards after the Board of Supervisors abandoned its support for a new facility in Gypsum Canyon near Anaheim Hills. Nor does there appear to be the political will among county voters to resolve the overcrowding problem. A half-cent sales-tax measure to finance jail construction went down in defeat two years ago, and there is little hope that a similar measure would fare any better in today’s recessionary climate.

That means Orange County could well face even more problems like the one that occurred this week at the Intake/Release Center. The county needs to grasp the seriousness of the jails crisis and come up with a concrete plan for addressing it.