Inmate Transfers Infuriate Officials : Jails: Overcrowding at central jail results in 48 maximum-security prisoners being sent to Theo Lacy in Orange. City councilwoman accuses the sheriff of a power play.

Citing overcrowding problems at the Men’s Central Jail, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department transferred 48 maximum-security inmates to Theo Lacy Branch Jail during the past weekend, an apparently unprecedented move that enraged city officials who have long fought against it.

Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Dan Martini said Monday that the department had no choice but to transfer the inmates to the Orange facility from the Central Jail in Santa Ana. As of Monday, all 48 were still in the Theo Lacy jail, Martini said.

“It was either that or release some prisoners into the community,” Martini said. “The sheriff is not likely to put criminals back into the community before they’ve served their sentences. That’s the difficulty he ran into. He just felt there were no other options.”

This is apparently the first time maximum-security inmates have been transferred to the 1,326-bed Theo Lacy jail, Martini said. The jail typically houses medium- and minimum-security prisoners.

The transfers, which began Friday, surprised and infuriated Orange officials, who say the Sheriff’s Department needs to solve its jail overcrowding problems elsewhere. A sheriff’s official notified the city of the transfers Monday morning, officials said.

“This is not right,” Mayor Gene Beyer said. “We do not want maximum-security prisoners in Orange. We’ve made that very clear over the years.”

Orange Councilwoman Joanne Coontz said she believes the transfer is nothing more than a power play on the part of the Sheriff’s Department. “The story is that the sheriff is just letting everyone know who has the power,” Coontz said.

Until now, city officials have believed that a “gentleman’s agreement” between the city and the county would keep maximum-security inmates out of Theo Lacy. But the Sheriff’s Department believes it has the authority to transfer the inmates there in a “worst-case scenario,” according to a report this month.

Orange officials have long fought use of the jail for maximum-security inmates, as well as a Sheriff’s Department proposal to increase the capacity at Theo Lacy to 2,200.

They argue that an expanded jail with maximum-security inmates could hurt economic development at The City Shopping Center across the street and could pose public safety problems for its other neighbors--residential neighborhoods, the Orangewood Children’s Home and UCI Medical Center.

“I guess we’re saying ‘solve it somewhere else,’ ” Coontz said. “We’ve had it.”

Theo Lacy Branch Jail was built in 1960 to house low-risk, minimum-security inmates. In 1985, officials expanded the jail to include medium-security “dormitory style” buildings.

Orange County Supervisor William G. Steiner, a former Orange City Council member, said Sheriff Brad Gates has full authority over jail operations, and the Board of Supervisors was not involved in the transfer of inmates.

“I appreciate the dilemma of the sheriff,” he said. “But by the same token, it seems that Orange has done more than many cities in the county to meet the need for jail beds.”

Martini said the transfer of the male inmates still leaves Theo Lacy with extra beds, and that the most dangerous of the county’s maximum-security inmates were not involved in the transfer.

Security at Theo Lacy was increased to include double fencing, additional razor wire and a state-of-the art security fencing system on the facility’s outer perimeter, Martini said. Parts of Theo Lacy have been refurbished to maximum-security specifications over the years.

“The sheriff feels comfortable that these security measures are more than adequate to house these types of inmates,” he said.

The Central Jail in Santa Ana, with 2,530 beds for men and women, is the only maximum-security jail in the county. It includes the jail’s intake and release center. A Sheriff’s Department report issued this month calls maximum-security housing at the Central Jail the “most severe overcrowding area” in the jail system.