Work Furlough Centers Are Right Thing : But County Supervisors Must Do a Better Job of Keeping Communities Informed

The Orange County Board of Supervisors is right to move ahead with plans to locate community work furlough centers in various parts of the county as one way to relieve the county’s severe jail crisis.

But it must do a much better job of keeping communities informed of county plans for these minimum security jails. The board recently failed to consult properly with Costa Mesa about a planned 50-bed facility in that city. As a result, the City Council and many residents are angry and unnecessarily fearful about the proposal--even though such centers work well in other cities. The board is scheduled to vote on the proposal Tuesday.

Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder, whose district includes Costa Mesa, has assured residents that Costa Mesa isn’t the only city that is being asked to make room for a work furlough center. Others already are open in Buena Park and Anaheim, and Wieder says others will be located in South County. But some Costa Mesans believe that they have been asked to shoulder more in the way of half-way houses and shelters than other cities, and they have a point. Greater efforts must be made by the county to locate such facilities in other areas, including South County.

The work furlough center in Costa Mesa would be located in two apartment buildings in the 2200 block of Maple Street. It would operate much like a similar facility in Buena Park, where inmates serve out their sentences without significant problems or infractions. Most also manage to stay out of trouble afterward. Neighbors have had few complaints, and police even fewer.

Work furlough centers are not for just any criminal. They are open only to drunk drivers, deadbeat dads, check bouncers, welfare cheats and others who are thought to be low-risk to the surrounding community. Inmates are allowed to leave the facility to go to jobs, but must return at night and submit to drug and alcohol tests. Inmates pay a nightly fee--based on their ability to pay--for the privilege of serving their sentences in a non-jail-like setting.

Work furlough centers fill only a small part of the need for cells in Orange County. So grave is the crisis that currently there are 1,300 fewer jail beds than needed--a number that is expected to grow to 5,300 by 2006. Bridging that huge gap will take a major commitment by the county’s political leaders and residents.

Still, work furlough centers are an important part of the picture, and this one should be approved. The Board of Supervisors should do a better job of clearing the way for them.