10-Foot Fence Approved for Musick Jail : Security: Topped by barbed wire, it will replace 5-foot section that inmates can climb. Facility has had numerous recent escapes.

Plans for a section of 10-foot-tall fence with barbed wire were approved Tuesday by Orange County supervisors for James A. Musick Branch Jail, where more than a dozen inmates have escaped over the last year and a half.

The chain-link fence with concrete footings will replace a 5-foot fence that inmates can climb at the rear of the minimum-security jail.

Because it involves public safety, the project has been placed on the “fast track” and should be completed by early next year, said Roger Hohnbaum of the county’s Environmental Management Agency. The bidding period for the project will be shortened from 14 weeks to about eight.

The jail, located near El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in east Irvine, houses about 1,000 nonviolent offenders including drug users, burglars and child-support violators. The inmates live in dormitories and tents surrounded mostly by 10-foot-fall fences.

Seven inmates have escaped so far this year. In 1994, a total of 11 inmates escaped either from the jail or from work details.

While most of escapees are not considered dangerous, some nearby residents have complained about the number of jail breaks. On Tuesday, residents expressed support for the county’s decision to build the new fence.

“Anything they can do to make the jail more secure is great,” said Susan H. Miller, a Lake Forest resident and president of the Serrano Park Community Assn. “It benefits both the jail and the surrounding community.”

Miller and her neighbors must endure helicopter noise and some rattled nerves whenever an inmate escapes from the jail, she said.

The fence will cost about $650,000. The Sheriff’s Department will pay 40%, and the remainder will be paid from county road-improvement funds.

The fence will be build near the proposed extension of Alton Parkway. The Environmental Management Agency agreed to help finance the fence with road money in exchange for use of a small amount of jail land for the Alton right of way.