Jail Compromise Is Crucial

It is appalling that two Orange County supervisors have given the cold shoulder to an expansion of the James A. Musick branch jail. That expansion, even though it is not as big as originally proposed, is still substantial. Compromise on this issue would benefit everyone.

Last week the city councils of Irvine and Lake Forest swallowed hard and acceded to the notion that Musick eventually would house more inmates than they would prefer. It was a difficult decision, because Musick is on their borders, with some of the nearest residents less than 1,000 yards from the jail.

In exchange for letting the inmate population increase from the current 1,256 to 4,600, the cities won the concession that maximum-security prisoners would not be transferred to Musick. Also, the number of prisoners would increase only gradually, starting in four years.

Supervisors Cynthia Coad and Charles V. Smith complained that the compromise would not satisfy the county’s need for 5,100 jail beds over the next decade. That’s no reason not to take most of the loaf now. Given the county’s sorry history on jail overcrowding, it’s going to take a good number of years to identify a site for a new jail, fight the neighbors’ lawsuits, find the money to construct and operate the building and move the inmates. A committee is at work on finding a site, and the supervisors would only be doing their job by finding a way to get more needed beds.

Three of the five supervisors already have gone to war with South County over a proposed commercial airport at El Toro, a stone’s throw from Musick. Expanding the jail to the maximum and increasing the number of hardened prisoners in it would be putting another finger in the eye of South County.

Government works by compromise. Sheriff Mike Carona brokered this arrangement, and if he is happy with it, why shouldn’t the supervisors be? Smith has become the board’s champion of the top-down management style; the sky is the limit on the size of the public works projects--airports, jails, whatever--he seems willing to impose on cities. Supervisor Jim Silva is the swing vote on the El Toro airport issue, and here is a chance for him to signal a willingness to deal with local municipalities.

Orange County has been under a federal court order for more than 20 years to end overcrowding in its jails. The situation became so bad in 1985 that a federal judge found the five supervisors and sheriff then in office in criminal contempt for not adding beds.

The cities and Sheriff Carona have done an admirable job of finding common ground. Their good work should not be undone in the Hall of Administration.