JAILS ARE OVERCROWDED, BUT COUNTY COFFERS AREN'T

Plans for a new courthouse compete with lockup expansion for funds.

Nearly a half-million convicted criminals or arrested suspects have been
released early or not locked up at all because of overcrowding in the
Orange County jail system during the past 12 years.

Last year alone, when the county was rated to have the most overcrowded
large jail system in the nation, 4,869 convicted criminals had their
sentences cut by 10 percent or more to free jail space.

That was in addition to the one-third time off their sentences some inmates
received for good behavior and volunteering to work. Aperson sentenced to a
year in jail could get out in about 185 days, a Sheriff's Department report
said.

Solving jail overcrowding and the related issue of early release of
sentenced criminals has eluded county officials for more than 20 years,
despite at least five studies since the early 1980s.

Next month, this twin problem will come to the forefront again when the
Board of Supervisors will have to decide how and where to spend limited
county funds over the next 10 years.

"There is always competition for the dollars," said Ricky Hewitt, assistant
sheriff.

Supervisor Bill Steiner said jail overcrowding must be dealt with, but
building new jails is not the only answer.

"We make a mistake when we think we can build our way out of this problem,"
Steiner said.

In April, the board will receive a study on alternatives to jailing offenders.

Completed in May 1997, the study by the county's Alternative to
Incarceration Task Force has become a hot political issue because of its
delay in being presented to the board.

County staff members say the report has not been presented because Sheriff
Brad Gates has been updating it.

Steiner hopes that programs such as work release and electronic monitoring
can be widely instituted to help relieve jail overcrowding.

"There should be other alternatives to holding people accountable for their
behavior other than locking them up in expensive jails," Steiner said.

The Orange County jail system is under a federal court order stemming for a
1978 American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit that mandates that each inmate
receive a bed within 24 hours of being booked.

Early release of prisoners has been a daily occurrence for more than a
decade because of overcrowding and the requirement that inmates can't sleep
on the floor, Hewitt said.

"If the watch commander comes up 20 beds short, then he has to look at all
the people who are finishing their sentences and try to find those who
would be the least threat to the community, but sometimes those sort of
prisoners are not available," Hewitt said.

Over the years, benefits from measures such a double-bunking of cells and
refusing to book most misdemeanor suspects into jail have been negated
somewhat by tougher sentencing laws that require jail time and the state's
"three strikes" law.

Inmates facing a second or third-strike conviction, and contemplating the
prospect of life in prison, stay in county jail longer fighting the charges
in court rather than pleading guilty, a recent Sheriff's Department "State
of the Jail" report says.

Sheriff's figures show that in January 1995 inmates awaiting trial spent on
average 78 days in jail. Now the average stay in jail is up nearly 50
percents, to 115 days for pretrial prisoners.

For the board, the issue of jails expansion comes down to money and
competing interests.

A cash-strapped county government still recovering from its $1.6 billion
bankruptcy estimates that over the next 10 years it will only have $158
million to spend on big projects, such as jail expansion.

Supervisors, however, have their eyes on a list of expensive purchases,
including a $48 million courthouse in south county, $32 million for early
debt repayment, $52 million in maintenance of county buildings, and $105
million for further expansion and operating costs of the Theo Lacy jail in
Orange.

A $22 million expansion of Theo Lacy is underway and will add about 382
beds. The next phases of expansion under consideration would add 1,427
beds.

County CEO Jan Mittermeier has suggested that board members will probably
have to choose between a new courthouse or continued expansion of Theo
Lacy.

"Although projections don't indicate that both projects can be completed,
we are working on the problem and still hope we can give the board a doable
solution," Mittermeir said.

This leaves the board split 3-2 over which project is more important, with
the new courthouse apparently leading the list.

"Theo Lacy expansion has to be the county's top priority," Supervisor Jim
Silsa said. "I have always felt that public safety is our No. 1 concern,
and any extra money in the county should go toward jail."

Silva said he would even consider using some of the money earmarked for
early bankruptcy debt repayment for jail expansion.

Supervisor Tom Wilson said his top priority is the courthouse, which
probably would be located in his district, but he has not given up on
finding money for jail expansion.