Alternative Sentences Urged to Unclog O.C. Jails

The need for new detention beds is so acute that Orange County should look beyond typical jail construction and consider alternatives to incarceration ranging from drug treatment facilities to work-furlough programs, according to a county report obtained Friday.

The Sheriff’s Department estimates that the need for adult jail beds will double over the next nine years to nearly 11,000. Overcrowding at the county’s four jails resulted in the early release last year of 32,000 inmates.

The draft report said that while increasing the number of jail beds should remain a top priority, the county should also investigate alternatives that might cost less and better meet the needs of certain offenders.

A task force made up of judges, law enforcement officials, social workers, county administrators and others spent more than a year conducting the study, which is being fine-tuned and will probably be finalized later this year.

“We have to look at more than one solution to this problem,” said Municipal Court Judge Pamela L. Iles, a member of the task force. “I believe it’s possible to place some of the low-risk people in these alternative facilities and save the public [jail] facilities for those who are too dangerous.”

The report suggested more than a dozen jail alternatives that could merit study, including:

* Greater use of electronic monitoring of offenders under “house arrest.” The Probation Department now uses a private company for an electronic confinement program.

* Expansion of the county’s Drug Court, in which nonviolent felony drug offenders are sentenced to intensive probation, drug treatment and job training or placement programs rather than being sent to jail.

* Establishment of more work-furlough and community service programs that allow offenders to work off their sentences.

* Exploration of public-private partnerships to create more detention facilities.

The report acknowledges that some of the ideas have been considered before and rejected. But given the critical need for detention beds, the alternatives deserve another look.

“Without attention to both . . . additional secure custody beds and the use of a myriad of alternative programs, the county and the community will find themselves in an even more critical situation than we are currently experiencing,” the study states.

It remains unclear how successful the programs would prove to be. But the report estimated that by 2006, the need for secure jail beds could be reduced from 10,911 to 9,757 with the use of alternative programs for nonviolent offenders.

Assistant Sheriff Jerry Krans, who also worked on the study, said many of the drug treatment facilities, work details and other alternative programs are aimed at a relatively small group of nonviolent inmates, and probably wouldn’t be effective for high-risk offenders.

“Everyone is running after that same group of people,” Krans said. “And this is the group that the courts are already diverting away” for jail.

Krans said he hoped the final report would more clearly estimate the number of inmates who could be served by alternative programs, and whether they are legally permitted. He also suggested that alternative ideas that don’t appear feasible should be dropped from the report.

The Sheriff’s Department took the position in its 1997 business plan that privately run jails are not permitted under state law, and there was no need to further study the idea. But Marshal Michael S. Carona, who is running for sheriff, has proposed sending some drug offenders to drug-treatment facilities that the private sector would build and operate.

Krans said the debate over alternative programs should not stall efforts to construct more jail beds.

“We have no problem studying these issues and investigating any new possibilities,” Krans said. “But let’s not delay building more beds. We know we need more beds, regardless of what else we come up with.”

The Board of Supervisors has approved a 1,000-bed expansion of the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange, but the county is still trying to come up with the money to build it.

Sheriff Brad Gates also wants to expand and convert the low-security James A. Musick Branch Jail in Irvine into a maximum-security facility. But funds are lacking for that project, too, and neighbors vehemently oppose the plan.

Judge Iles said the county should study the use of private companies to house some drug offenders, though such a program would probably require changes in state law.

“It’s a cost-effective way to provide treatment,” she said.

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Far Beyond a Crowd

Overcrowding at Orange County’s four jails resulted in the early release of thousands of inmates last year. The average adult daily jail population for the past five years:

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Year Capacity Exceeded capacity Total 1992 3,414 1,248 4,662 1993 3,613 1,081 4,694 1994 3,821 1,183 5,004 1995 3,821 1,302 5,123 1996 3,821 1,376 5,197

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THE FORECAST

By 2006, the Sheriff’s Department said it will need 10,911 jail beds. Projected number of beds needed:

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Category Beds Maximum Security 4,910 Medium Security 4,583 Low Security 1,418

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Source: Institutional Overcrowding Report; Researched by SHELBY GRAD / Los Angeles Times