GARDEN GROVE : Contract Detaining Prisoners in Jail OKd

The City Council has approved a contract to detain in the Huntington Beach City Jail potentially troublesome prisoners who have been arrested for misdemeanors.

The city has turned to an agreement with Huntington Beach because it has the jail space to keep prisoners behind bars until court arraignment or they post bond. Orange County Jail accepts almost no misdemeanor prisoners and frequently is forced to release those few they do accept because of overcrowding.

The agreement is an effort to keep prisoners who may be prone to violence or disruptive behavior in jail for “a cooling-off period,” according to Chief Stanley L. Knee.

Garden Grove has only a temporary holding facility that allows them to keep arrestees up to six hours.

Knee said the principal aim of the agreement is “to put people in jail who need to go to jail.”

Typical offenses might involve repeated violations of park rules, disturbances and aggressive panhandling, he said.

Huntington Beach also has a contract with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to house people facing deportation. It has an agreement to handle prisoners for Fountain Valley and Seal Beach and female prisoners for Costa Mesa.

Police Chief Ronald E. Lowenberg said Huntington Beach police transport prisoners to Orange County Municipal Court for court appearances and “98% of the time” they are released at the courthouse in Westminster rather than sent back to Huntington Beach.

For each prisoner, Huntington Beach charges $125 for booking and $41.15 for food and housing on subsequent days.

The booking fee at Orange County Jail is $158, according to Knee.

After arrestees are arraigned in court, they will be transferred to county jail if they are to remain in custody.

Garden Grove approved the agreement on Oct. 5.