JAILS CHIEF TO BE OUSTED

The head of the county's jail system will soon be out of a job, becoming
the third ousted leader of the troubled county jail system in less than a
decade.

Last week, acting Chief of Corrections Daniel Vasquez, who has been running
Santa Clara County's jail system since 1994, was told there were three
finalists for the permanent jail chief's job, and he was not one of them,
according to county sources.

Vasquez may be the first casualty of rising concerns over dangerous levels
of inmate overcrowding in the county's jail system. Prisoners are stacked
up threehigh in bunk beds and population levels are exceeding 130 percent
of recommended capacity, the highest in the history of the jails.

County jail officials predict that once the 5,000inmate mark is crossed,
they won't have the manpower to handle the growth, and services will
deteriorate.

``I'm like a motel operator,'' jails chief Vasquez said regarding the
overcrowding in an interview earlier this fall. ``I have no control over
when they check in or when they check out. I just have to do my best to
deal with them while they are here.''

In July, the board of supervisors launched a nationwide search for a chief
of corrections after a court ruling ordered the county to split up the
duties of the chief of corrections and the chief of probations, a single
position held at the time by John Cavalli.

Vasquez, who was at the time director of corrections and reported to
Cavalli, was named acting chief of corrections in July. The board invited
Vasquez to apply for the slot. Last week, however, he was told he didn't
make the final cut.

Peter Kutras, deputy county executive, confirmed that the board was
actively looking for a new chief of corrections. But he would say only that
the county has not made a final decision and ``the nationwide search still
continues.''

The board was expected to consider finalists for the chief of corrections
job in closed session Friday afternoon, according to its agenda.
Representatives of the board refused to comment, saying it was a personnel
matter being discussed in closed session.

Vasquez was out sick and could not be reached for comment.

Vasquez, 53, former warden at San Quentin prison who took over the troubled
department in 1994, has been known as a friendly but tough, handson leader
who would be frequently seen ``walking the yard.''

He took over an unstable jail system that had the reputation of roughing up
its inmates and chewing up its directors and tried to turn it around,
focusing on rehabilitation over punishment, said prison system officials.

But Vasquez also came under fire in 1995 for an affirmative action policy
that pledged to hire and promote a workforce ``reflective of the inmate
population.'' County lawyers told him this could be illegal.

And in May of that year, he also had to back away from a plan to release
inmates to reduce overcrowding, only to find that the emergency policy
broke state law.

``I'm man enough to stand up to my mistakes,'' Vasquez said in an interview
at the time.

In 1995, Vasquez took the most heat for suspending five correctional
officers after a mentally ill inmate suffered permanent brain damage and
was left comatose when they tried to restrain him by covering his head with
a blanket. An arbitrator later ruled Vasquez unfairly punished the
officers. The family of the inmate settled a lawsuit with the county for
$1.7 million.

``He's a tyrant,'' said Richard Abbate, the head of the Correctional Peace
Officers Association. ``I, for one, won't shed any tears to see him go.

``He has done more to undermine the status of correctional officers in this
county than any other single human being.''

The board has not set a date for the announcement of a new chief of
corrections, and Vasquez is expected to stay on until one is named.