Consultant hired to study O.C. jails
Orange County supervisors voted Tuesday to award a $250,000 contract to a consulting firm to make recommendations for improving conditions in the county’s troubled jail system.
Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said she wants the firm, Crout and Sida Criminal Justice Consultants, to offer ideas for increasing the safety of staff and inmates in the state’s second-largest local jail system.
In April, the district attorney released a report that questioned the performance of some deputies at Theo Lacy Jail in Orange, where inmate John Derek Chamberlain was beaten to death in 2006.
The report said some deputies napped, watched television or exchanged cellphone text messages while they were supposed to be watching inmates. Although the department has taken steps to improve conditions at Theo Lacy and the county’s other facilities, Hutchens said a study by an outside agency could identify further problem areas.
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