City and County Negotiators Seek Jail Accord : Corrections: Officials report significant progress in talks that could cut scope of Theo Lacy Branch expansion project to avert suit.

Desperate to ease jail overcrowding, county officials are prepared to reduce the scope of the Theo Lacy Branch Jail expansion to avoid litigation with the City of Orange and move ahead with the project.

City and county negotiators have tentatively agreed on several points, which could result in the county not only cutting the number of proposed new jail beds but also reducing the number of maximum-security inmates to be housed at the facility in Orange.

The county is also willing to offer Orange several economic incentives, including a stimulus package for the foundering The City shopping center, relocating the county animal shelter and giving the city a waiver of county jail booking fees.

Supervisor William G. Steiner and Orange City Manager David F. Dixon are lead negotiators and have been working for months to resolve the dispute over the proposed Theo Lacy expansion. As originally planned, the project would increase the number of jail beds at Theo Lacy from 1,326 beds to 4,480, under a worst-case scenario.

Both men said this week that significant progress in the negotiations has been made. They said the county and city are willing to compromise to reach an out-of-court resolution to the matter.

Steiner said the county is hoping to avoid costly and protracted litigation with Orange. He added that the county wants to move ahead on the expansion as quickly as possible because of the critical overcrowding problem.

“The bottom line is, if people are really concerned about their safety, we have to have these jail beds and not have people being just cited and released,” he said.

Although the county has shown a willingness to reduce the scope of the expansion project, Steiner and Dixon said they are still haggling over the exact numbers of new jail beds that will be installed at Theo Lacy and the precise number of maximum-security inmates who will use them.

They said the issue of jail beds could be a “deal breaker” if not resolved.

“We’re still a ways apart,” Dixon said.

But the number of jail beds is not the only issue being discussed.

For the first time since the negotiations began last summer, Steiner disclosed that the county is also prepared to offer Orange a “multimillion-dollar” economic package. That package would include helping the city improve traffic circulation around The City mall, financing the $6-million relocation of the animal shelter, which the city would be responsible for if the project moves forward, and other undisclosed incentives.

Any settlement of the dispute will have to be legally binding, Steiner and Dixon said.

The Theo Lacy jail expansion has been a hotly debated issue throughout the county for years. Although county officials and Sheriff Brad Gates have been pushing for the expansion, they say they realize that, at best, it is only a short-term solution to the lack of jail space in the county. A long-term solution, however, seems nowhere in sight.

In an Aug. 26 letter to county officials, Gates said the overcrowding problem was so severe that in the past two years he has been forced to release nearly 55,000 inmates from jail early.

Gates has said the state’s new “three strikes and you’re out” legislation has only worsened an unbearable situation in the county’s jails. Sheriff’s officials also have said recent disturbances at the Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana and at Theo Lacy are partly due to the packed conditions.

Gates could not be reached for comment Friday. Steiner said he plans to meet with the sheriff next week and brief him on his negotiations with Orange.

Concurrent with the negotiations, the county is proceeding with an environmental impact study on the Theo Lacy expansion. Orange officials have not sued the county over the expansion project, but say they are prepared to do so.

City officials have, however, filed a lawsuit over the housing of maximum-security inmates at the facility. The city would drop the lawsuit and agree not to challenge the expansion project if a settlement is reached, Dixon and Steiner said.

* MALL REPLACEMENT PLAN

One developer considers turning The City shopping center in Orange into a factory outlet mall. B6