Two Sides of the Jail Expansion Issue

Regarding the proposal to expand the James A. Musick Branch Jail, it is unconscionable even to consider building a maximum security jail within 700 feet of a residential area. Certainly there are alternatives to this ridiculous plan. Why should we risk the safety of our neighborhoods and our children for the convenience of the planning committee?

It will house 7,860 minimum, medium and maximum security inmates, including emotionally unstable juveniles. Also included is a sheriff’s station, 900 parking spaces, and 28 acres for future expansion. This will destroy the surrounding existing communities. There is currently at least one 600-home tract in Lake Forest within only 700 feet of the Musick facility.

Please oppose the plan for the Musick maximum security jail. Let’s preserve our neighborhoods, not destroy them!

BONNIE I. FORSYTH

Lake Forest

* I am writing to respond to some of the comments contained in recent letters regarding “Build Jail Somewhere Else.”

While residents express fears of expanding the James A. Musick facility, where thousands of additional criminals could be locked up and taken off the street, their risk of being a victim of a crime is far greater to them if the jail is not expanded.

In 1995 alone, there were approximately 40,000 criminals who were cited and released or had their sentence reduced because of jail overcrowding. Of these 40,000, 882 committed new crimes and were rearrested during the time they should have still been in jail on their previous offense. Twenty-five of these criminals who were released early committed crimes in the cities of Lake Forest and Irvine. Some of the crimes were robbery, burglary, soliciting a lewd act, driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and assault with a deadly weapon. If we had enough maximum-security jail beds, we would have been able to keep these criminals in jail for their full court-imposed sentence and these crimes could have been prevented.

Marcel Fernandez, chairman of the citizens group opposing the Musick expansion, states in his Aug. 11 letter that “we should not continue to support or expand a system that does not punish adequately or correct sufficiently.” How right he is.

We need to have a criminal justice system that allows law enforcement and the courts to carry out their duties, and that includes the critical component of punishment and deterrent through incarceration. Criminals know that they will only have to serve a small portion of the sentence imposed on them by the courts. Many criminals are back on the street even before the officers who arrested them are. In just the first six months of 1996, 12,027 inmates were released early from the Orange County Jail system.

Expanding the James A. Musick facility will provide greater public safety, not less. I urge the public to read the environmental impact report and get the facts for themselves and not be influenced by emotional rhetoric by persons not knowledgeable with the facts.

BRAD GATES

Sheriff-Coroner

Santa Ana