2,500 NEW JAIL BEDS NEEDED NOW, STUDY SAYS

Prisons: Early release of O.C. inmates is costly to society,but expansion
plans have drawn fire.

A comprehensive jail study, the first in 11 years, concludes that Orange
County needs 2,532 more jail beds immediately to ease overcrowding and end
the early release of inmates.

The long-sought study, by Omni-Group Inc. of Los Angeles, was commissioned
last year by former Sheriff Brad Gates after he was criticized for basing
jail expansion plans on a 1987 report. Expansion critics, including newly
seated Sheriff Michael S. Carona, had called for a new, comprehensive report.

Carona said the study, completed in December, has convinced him that he
needs more jail space. The Sheriff's Department, along with Omni-Group, is
working on an addition to the report to determine how many more beds will
be needed by 2006. Carona said he expects the number will be 4,000 to 5,000.

Carona has drawn fire in recent weeks for threatening to revive a dormant
plan to turn the James A. Musick honor farm into a maximum-security
facility. The county has approved - but not funded - an expansion to 7,500
beds from 1,200.

Although Carona campaigned against the expansion, he now says he has been
painted into a corner by a proposed ballot measure to thwart an El Toro
airport. That initiative, if it became law, would require two-thirds voter
approval to build an airport, a jail or a landfill near homes. Such a rule
would prevent the department from finding alternative jail sites, Carona said.

The new report concludes that more jail beds are much needed.

Opponents of the Musick expansion agree with the report: The question is
where?

"It's the old real estate adage, 'Location, location, location,'" said Lake
Forest Councilman Richard Dixon. "It's a huge problem the sheriff is faced
with."

The study says releasing inmates early to ease overcrowding allows
prisoners to commit more crimes, costing the public $33.3 million a year.