High-Stakes Jail Gamble

The new Irvine City Council majority seated Tuesday wasted no time fulfilling one of its campaign promises when it failed to approve a previously agreed upon city compromise on the county’s expansion plan for the James A. Musick Branch Jail. Irvine’s new leadership previously expressed concern that the city not sign off prematurely on what could become one of the biggest jails in the state. But it is now apparent in view of some recent developments that this policy change easily could backfire.

In not ratifying the settlement already approved by neighboring Lake Forest, which has homes within 700 feet of the jail, and the county, which plans extensive expansion of the branch jail, Irvine is turning its back on a reasonable resolution of the dispute. Instead, it has chosen to take a high-risk winner-take-all gamble. At this point, the county appears to be holding better cards.

For more than 20 years, the county has been trying to satisfy a court order to end jail overcrowding and padlock the revolving jailhouse door that has seen the county release hundreds of thousands of inmates to make room for incoming prisoners. One obvious immediate alternative for county supervisors and the sheriff was to expand existing facilities as former Sheriff Brad Gates had planned to do. The county decided to do precisely that at Musick and increase its inmate population from today’s 1,256 to 7,968 maximum-security prisoners.

Irvine and Lake Forest, the communities closest to the jail, sued, and the case has been in the courts for several years.

Current Sheriff Michael S. Carona’s testimony before the council last week reinforced a conclusion that has been evident for some time. He advocates a different approach from his predecessor and does not want maximum-security prisoners or a large facility at Musick. A compromise brokered by Carona and endorsed by some of the county’s top law enforcement officials would reduce the planned jail capacity to 4,440 low-security beds to be built over the next 15 years.

Another key condition called for the county to try to find some other jail site in a more remote area away from homes. That’s a sticking point. Irvine wants a more ironclad agreement on another location and has formed a committee to seek that site rather than have Musick expanded.

The compromise was worked out before two court decisions that came down this month put the cities at a legal disadvantage. Measure F, which would have required a two-thirds countywide vote for any jail expansion near homes, was declared invalid by a judge. Then an appellate court ruled against a claim by Irvine and Lake Forest that the county failed to study how the Musick expansion would impact nearby homes and businesses.

The rulings virtually give the county the green light to put expansion plans into high gear--without any of the concessions that the Irvine City Council is turning its back on.

Mayor Larry Agran and his council supporters are gambling on finding a new jail location and persuading the county to acquire and develop it. Or they would need to succeed in overturning two court rulings to stop any expansion at Musick.

If they fail, they face the real prospect of a nearby jail with 6,712 more inmates, or 3,528 more beds than the compromise would have allowed. And those beds, instead of the low-security risk kind, would be filled with maximum-security prisoners. And the county would not be obligated to seek another jail site.

No wonder Lake Forest was so eager to effect the compromise. The county should still seek another location for its maximum-security inmates. But with its legal victories and no other affordable and politically practical jail alternative in development, Irvine’s rejection of the compromise puts it, and neighboring Lake Forest, back where they started several years ago.