Alternatives to Jail Urged to Ease Crowding
Orange County’s jails and juvenile facilities remain overcrowded, and officials need to consider an array of solutions beyond simply building new institutions, according to a report released Tuesday.
The study, prepared for the Board of Supervisors by the Alternatives to Incarceration Task Force, is the latest in a string of reports highlighting cramped conditions at county facilities.
“The evidence is clear that Orange County has a significant need for additional maximum security adult and juvenile institutional bed capacity,” the panel concluded.
The study found that:
* The county’s jail system held an average of 5,500 inmates in June, even though it was designed to house 3,821 inmates.
* Juvenile Hall and the Orangewood Children’s Home--the county emergency shelter for abused and neglected children--often also operate above capacity.
* The county will need more than 6,000 new jail beds by 2006. But officials can reduce that number by at least 1,000 by using alternatives such as drug-treatment facilities and electronic monitoring.
Mike Carona, who will become Orange County’s sheriff in January, has called for greater use of jail alternatives to ease overcrowding, including the establishment of privately run drug treatment centers for nonviolent offenders.
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