JAIL EXPANSION

After years of legal struggles between the County of Orange and the city of Orange, the latest expansion of Theo Lacy Branch Jail will be completed next monty. For a decade, an outraged Orange fought bitterly and repeatedly with the county over attempts to expand the chronically overcrowded jail on the western edge of the city. The city sued the county in 1989 to block a proposed expansion and agreed to a prisoner capacity cap a year later. In 1992 when the county proposed to triple the size of Lacy, the city sued again. Finally in 1995, the county agreed to limit future expansion to 1,660 additional beds, and in exchange the city got a $10-million incentive package. A look at the jail’s $20.4 million addition:

A Birdseye View

With the most recent expansion, Theo Lacy jail has grown from a 424-beds in 1960 to a 2,068 beds today. In four decades, jail design at Lacy has come full circle -- starting with the semicircle barracks to the less-successful dormitory warehouse designs of the late 1980s to the high-tech circular layout of today.

First phase (384 beds): Maximum security module due to be completed in mid--November, opens in December

Second phase (384 beds): Construction underway, due to open May 2001

Third phase: Expansion still under consideration

Penned In

Three layers of fencing prevent inmate escapes at Theo Lacy.

12-ft. barbed wire fence

16-ft. curved fence

16-ft. wall topped with razor wire

UNDER A WATCHFUL EYE

Inmates leave the new six-sector Theo Lacy wing only for court dates or serious illnesses. Everything else -- meals, classes, visitors, counselors, medical services, recreation time and library materials -- comes to them.

Nutrition

Prisoners eat meals in the day room, prepared by an inmate workcrew and slid through a slot in the sector door

Relaxation

Prisoners spend free time in the day room watching television, reading newspapers, magazines and books or playing cards and dominoes

Recreation

After a pat-down search, prisoners exercise in the yard for an hour each day

Housekeeping

Prisoners mop, sweep and clean their own sector and individual rooms daily

Lockdown

During lights out, prisoners sleep for 8 hours locked in their cells

Altercation

During a fight, guards order prisoners to lie face down on the floor, use pepper spray to separate, handcuff combatants

Multi-purpose room for church services, school classes and 12-step programs

Inside the Cell

Federal law requires a minimum of 72-square-foot cells

Window with view of grounds (30 in. x 6 in.)

Locker stores letters, photos, court documents

Combination toilet/sink

Cement bunks with bedrolls built into cinderblock wall

Table with chairs built into wall

Cement-filled high-grade steel door frame

Air vents

A Day in Jail

5 a.m. -- lights up, shower

6 a.m. -- breakfast

Early morning -- transport prisoners to court dates, outdoor recreation begins, sick calls and medication

Mid-morning -- day room activities (TV, reading, cards)

11 a.m. -- prisoners return to cells for count

11:30 a.m. -- lunch

After lunch -- school classes, visiting hours, day room reopens

Mid-afternoon -- prisoners return to cells for count

6 p.m. -- dinner

After dinner -- day room reopens

9 p.m. -- lights out, lock down

Panoramic Prison

A jail without bars, the guard station offers a 270-degree unobstructed view of new Theo Lacy wing.

Deputies patrol from sector to sector

Barless cells allow guards to see prisoners faces

Deputies communicate with prisoners via intercom

Closed-circuit monitors

One-inch-thick 5-ply glass protects guards

Deputies remotely open pneumatic door locks

Sensors ensure automatic-closing doors securely locked

Theo Lacy Timeline

Built in 1897, Orange County’s first permanent jail -- a three-cell facility in Santa Ana known as “Lacy Hotel” -- also served as a home to Sheriff Theo Lacy and his family who lived on the top floor. Today, the medium-security jail in Orange bears his name.

1960 -- Theo Lacy Branch Jail opens

Nov. 1968 -- Main jail in downtown Santa Ana opens

May 1978 -- Judge orders county to alleviate jail overcrowding

Sept. 1985 -- Sheriff Gates releases low-risk defendants because of jail overcrowding

Nov. 1986 -- County begins studying potential new jail sites in canyons.

May 1987 -- County plans 1,018-bed Lacy expansion

July 1987 -- County selects Anaheim Hills site for 6,000-bed jail

Jan. 1989 -- County approves environmental impact report for 518-bed Lacy expansion, Orange sues to block expansion

May 1989 -- Judge halts Lacy expansion

March 1990 -- County agrees with Orange to 1,326-bed cap, no maximum-security inmates at Lacy

Nov. 1990 -- Inmates sue county to curb overcrowding

May 1991 -- County voters reject proposed tax hike to build Anaheim Hills jail

Aug. 1991 -- Judge sentences Sheriff Gates to 30 days in jail for releasing prisoners early to ease jail overcrowding

Oct. 1991 -- County drops plans for Anaheim Hills jail

Jan. 1992 -- County approves 902-bed expansion at Lacy, Orange sues to block plan

Feb. 1993 -- County considers building jail at Tustin base

June 1993 -- Sheriff Gates threatens to close Musick, Lacy jails if $20 million post-bankruptcy cuts take effect

Oct. 1993 -- 384-bed I & J modules open at Lacy

April 1994 -- County drops plans for jail at Tustin base.

July 1994 -- County envisions ‘worst-case scenario’ 4,480-bed capacity at Lacy

Oct. 1994 -- Race-related melee at Lacy involves 150 inmates

Dec. 1994 -- County bankruptcy puts 1,600-bed Lacy expansion on hold

June 1995 -- $10 million county deal with Orange clears way for 1,660-bed Lacy expansion

Nov. 1996 -- County OKs Musick expansion from 1,200 to 7,500 beds

Nov. 1999 -- Construction complete on 384-bed K & L modules, bringing total to 2,068 beds at Lacy

March 2000 -- Anti-jail expansion initiative goes before voters, threatening future expansions

May 2001 -- Lacy to add 384 more beds, plus a 125-bed medical facility

Lacy Escapes

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Year Escapes Caught 1984 15 2 1985 12 12 1986 3 3 1987 3 3 1988 5 3 1989 5 4 1990 1 1 1991 7 5 1992 5 3 1993 5 4 1994 0 0 1995 0 0 1996 0 0 1997 2 0 1998 0 0

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Sources: Project manager Randy Vannoy, Capt. Tom McCarthy, Capt. Kim Markuson, Lt. Jay LeFlore, Dep. Bill Stirling

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times