Weighing Kern County Jail Plan

Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona campaigned for office last year with a pledge to alleviate the long-standing problem of too many jail inmates for too few beds. His latest proposal is worth scrutiny, though it appears a long shot.

Carona last month said he hopes to lodge at least 250 inmates at a private detention center under construction in Kern County. That would provide minimal relief to the county’s jails, which now hold more than 5,000 inmates.

Cost would be a major factor. If the inmates are still in the middle of trial or sentencing, they would have to be transported to and from Orange County for court appearances. Trips of 100 miles each way would be expensive.

Critics also complain that a Kern County jail would put inmates too far from their families. That’s true.

Unless the inmates already have been convicted and are just awaiting assignment to a state prison, which means they will be separated from their families anyway, they shouldn’t be lodged so far away.

Another factor that bears scrutiny is the involvement in the Kern County prison of one of Carona’s benefactors. William “Buck” Johns, longtime county Republican stalwart and major political and financial backer of Carona last year, owns a company that provided consulting services for Corrections Corp. of America, builder of the prison in the Kern County community of California City.

Carona says there’s no conflict because the final decision on whether to put inmates at the building would be up to the Board of Supervisors. Johns’ involvement in the planning of the jail should not be an automatic disqualifier, but Carona should understand that proposals of public officials that have any link to their patrons deserve especially close scrutiny.

The facility would be the first major privately financed detention center in the state. State law bars private companies from overseeing county inmates. To get around that, Kern, Orange and Los Angeles counties are considering leasing part of the 2,300-bed detention center and supervising operations themselves.

Even if the Kern County facility did prove acceptable, the need would remain for more jail beds in Orange County to comply with federal judicial rulings that the county end overcrowding in its jails.