County Moves to Keep Closer Eye on Inmates

Chipping away at a security problem that plagues old jails, Orange County supervisors voted Tuesday to install a closed-circuit television surveillance system in the Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana.

“We would like to have video cameras everywhere in the jails system, but it’s quite costly. So we add them as we can,” Assistant Sheriff Rocky Hewitt said. “It’s critical we have them in the central jail complex.”

About 50 cameras, at a total cost of $200,000, will be installed on the third and fourth floors.

Hewitt said the cameras are crucial to ensuring the safety of both sheriff’s deputies and inmates.

The jail was built in 1968 in what was then a state-of-the-art rectangular design. But in recent years, jail design has evolved into a circle or oval to give guards clustered in the middle a better overall view of inmates.

“A lot has changed in 30 years,” Hewitt said. The biggest change is in the inmates themselves, he said. Three decades ago, about 70% were held for misdemeanors; now most are held on violent crimes.

“We have very little problems, but there are occurrences,” Hewitt said. “People who don’t get along on the outside don’t get along any better on the inside.”

Other modernization projects underway include painting the living quarters and refurbishing the inmates’ beds and benches, which have been in use since the jail opened.