Countywide : Judge-Inmate Video Program to Expand

Officials plan to expand a program that links inmates to county judges through video technology in a jailhouse studio--a system officials say saves money and time as well as prevents security problems with busing prisoners.

They hope to have prisoners at Anaheim City Jail face a televised image of a judge when they enter their plea to misdemeanor crimes, while screens in a courtroom at Municipal Court in Fullerton would show the inmate live as he or she is arraigned.

An identical system has been used since September by Municipal Court in Santa Ana and the Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana.

Linking jailhouses with courtrooms through video and facsimile machines eliminates the costly shuttling of new prisoners to the courthouse for arraignment, a process police say is time-consuming and a security problem.

“If it goes as planned, we think it will cut down on crowding problems here at the court’s holding cells, too,” said William J. Brennan, an administrator at Municipal Court in Fullerton. “There are times we have to call down to Anaheim Jail and tell them to hold the buses until we can clear some of the people out up here.”

The Sheriff’s Department spends $8 million annually to haul prisoners to different parts of the county. A substantial amount of that goes toward ferrying about 500 inmates daily to and from court appearances at the county’s five courthouses.

Besides the costs associated with fuel, maintenance and labor, county records show that daily busing is a source of security concerns, with 60% of all maximum-security escapes occurring during prisoner transfers.

With the video arraignment program, prisoners never leave the jail. Instead of being shackled, filing into a bus, spending hours in transit and waiting in overcrowded court holding cells, the inmates are simply escorted to a studio.

Both the Anaheim effort and the 2-month-old effort between Municipal Court in Santa Ana and the men’s jail will only handle misdemeanor arraignments until the system is perfected, Brennan said. About 45 inmates are bused from Anaheim Jail to Municipal Court in Fullerton each day, he said.

County officials also have said the system would relieve some of the jail’s overcrowding. In many misdemeanor cases, inmates are released after their initial court appearance. Because the busing system makes those prisoners wait for a ride back to the jail to be checked out, they often remain in the system hours longer than necessary.

Anaheim has already purchased the video equipment and set up a studio, court officials said. Jail administrators could not be reached for comment on the cost Friday, but an identical system used in the county facility was purchased for $120,000.

The Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday on a recommendation to add a member to the courthouse staff to work on-site in the jailhouse studio.