Judge Refuses to Bar Public From Trial on Jail Expansion

Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates is expected to testify today in an emotionally charged case involving the county jail system, after a judge refused Tuesday to bar the public from the trial.

The case centers on a lawsuit brought by the city of Orange as it tries to block the county from continuing its expansion of the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in the city.

Attorneys for the city have argued that the county has reneged on past promises to house only medium-security prisoners at Theo Lacy. They also maintain that the county has embarked on a secret agenda--without public review--to make Theo Lacy into a maximum-security jail that would eventually overtake the central Santa Ana jail in size.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Norman Dowds is hearing the case in Santa Ana after the city of Orange successfully moved last year to disallow any Orange County judge from overseeing the case.

In preliminary motions Tuesday, he ruled that the case could move forward in open court so long as lawyers for the city of Orange do not publicly disclose questions that the county asks of inmates in deciding the security risk they pose in jail, Orange attorney Jeffrey K. Willis said.

The county had sought a broader ban on public testimony, arguing that open discussion of its inmate classification system could jeopardize jail security.

While declining to discuss details of the case, County Counsel Terry C. Andrus said Tuesday that it was never the county’s intention to impose a total ban on the public.

“When it came to discussions of the classification system, we felt that detailed knowledge of the classification system could lead to serious problems in the jail,” Andrus said.

As the trial progresses, Dowds will also hear arguments that may arise on whether county documents on jail security classifications should be disclosed in open court, Willis said.

Willis maintained in an interview that the county’s attempt to close the trial is “consistent” with its past practices on the Theo Lacy issue, as it seeks to circumvent public scrutiny.

Noting that county officials refused to discuss the jail classification system in many pretrial depositions, Willis said: “We think it’s just ridiculous.”