Jails bulging with record number of inmates

Santa Clara County task force considers electronic monitoring and early
release

BY TINI TRAN

Mercury News Staff Writer

Santa Clara County's five jails are bursting, hitting record
inmatepopulation levels that threaten to create a ``meltdown'' in the
system, county officials warn.

Inmates are stacked up threehigh in bunk beds as space gets tight. 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.

We're getting close to a flash point level,'' acknowledged Supervisor Pete
McHugh, who chairs the county's Public Safety and Justice Committee. ``The
problem is that this didn't happen overnight, so we can't expect to solve
it right away.''

McHugh has been spearheading a task force on overcrowding with
representatives from the courts, district attorney's office, public
defender's office and probation and correction departments since last
summer when jail officials raised the red flag.

The task force is looking at a wide range of shortterm options for dealing
with the overcrowding crisis. Officials say they are considering making
more inmates eligible for bail, offering alternative sentencing such as
electronic monitoring and weekend work furloughs and, as a last resort,
early release.

According to the most recent figures, the inmate population stands at 4,861
130 percent of recommended capacity and the highest ever in the history
of the jails. Since January, the figures have spiked up by 624 inmates, the
sharpest increase in years.

The reasons are complicated, ranging from the gettough ``three strikes,
you're out'' law to a backlog in criminal cases awaiting trial. And if it
isn't fixed soon, the situation could provoke the court challenges on
overcrowding that happened more than a decade ago.

Milling around

The strain shows at places such as the Elmwood Correctional Facility in
Milpitas, where levels for mediumsecurity inmates are at 170 percent of
capacity. On a Wednesday morning in one of the large, army barracksstyle
units, inmates restlessly milled about the multipurpose room where they
eat, sleep and wash.

``There isn't much elbow room,'' said one correctional guard watching over
the group as the men jostled for space at dining tables.

Units that normally hold 50 inmates are now holding around 75 and up to 90.
Half the bunk beds lined up against the back side of the room are
tripletiered.

Space is becoming increasingly scarce, and another 200 extra beds are being
built as part of a contingency plan if numbers should rise, said jail
spokesman Rick Kitson. Manpower is also being stretched tighter. Jail
guards normally assigned to 48 inmates are doing extraduty, being held
responsible for 64.

``We expect at 5,000 inmates for active deterioration of the system to
begin,'' Kitson said. ``We won't be able to provide adequate services for
the folks we have.''

For jail officials, the fear is that the sheer number of inmates could
potentially lead to tense and even dangerous conditions, because crowding
is considered the biggest predictor of violence.

It's not just terrible conditions for the inmates, who have no choice in
this, but it's unsafe for the guards,'' said inmate advocate and attorney
Amanda Wilson. ``When it's overcrowded, everything escalates. There's a lot
more use of excessive force. Basically the county is asking for another
lawsuit.''

Faced lawsuit

Looming in the background is the memory of a lengthy, expensive and bitter
overcrowding lawsuit that the county faced during the mid1980s when
conditions were so severe that single cells were being doubled up and
inmates were sleeping on floors and in hallways.

Known as the Branson case, the hostile and complex legal battle resulted in
the entire board of supervisors being fined and sentenced to jail for
failing to come up with a plan to ease conditions.

As a result, the county built the Main Jail North facility downtown, added
the women's jail at Elmwood and expanded the men's jail at Elmwood. It also
created the Department of Correction as a separate organization to run the
jails.

Currently 24 of the 58 counties statewide, including Los Angeles, San Diego
and Orange, are under courtordered inmate caps as a result of lawsuits.

Santa Clara is the largest county jail system not under courtimposed
inmate ceilings, but at the present rate of growth, Dan Vasquez, director
of the Department of Correction, said that is a likely possibility.

``My objective is to keep us out of that, but I am concerned that we are in
danger of that happening,'' Vasquez said.

Santa Clara County's problem is not an isolated one counties throughout
the state are showing parallel peaks in population, according to state
experts.

``We have seen in the last year a significant increase in the overall
prison population in counties. It's gotten to the highest levels since we
began keeping records in the '70s,'' said Tom McConnell, executive officer
of the state Board of Corrections.

And the problem only gets worse at the other end of the pipeline. State
prisons are bulging with population levels at 200 percent capacity.

Contributing factors

County criminal justice experts point to a number of reasons behind the
spiraling population, including the ``three strikes'' law, a backlog of
criminal cases awaiting trial and ``good time'' credits for time served at
the local level.

``The problem is complex,'' said Superior Court Judge William Martin, who
sets the court calendar. ``There's not just one factor here. If there had
only been one, we would have dealt with it a long time ago.''

Jail officials say the number of people being arrested has not actually
increased over the last year. Instead, inmates coming into the system are
simply staying longer.

Twothirds of the county's inmates haven't even gone to trial yet. The
average jail stay has increased from 84 days to 140 days over the last
three years.

Clearly, the threestrikes legislation, passed in 1994 as part of a
toughoncrime approach, has had a major impact. The law states that anyone
convicted of a crime, with two prior felony convictions, automatically
faces a sentence of 25 years to life.

For inmates facing a third strike, there is no incentive to plea bargain,
explained Karyn Sinunu, assistant district attorney. Instead, they prefer
to take their time, wait in jail and fight the case in court.

A bizarre legislative quirk allows time served at the county jail level to
count for more ``good time'' credits toward release. Two days at the county
level counts as three days in prison, an incentive for an inmate to want to
stay at the local facility.

Not everyone believes three strikes is a major culprit. State expert
McConnell says the number of unsentenced second and thirdstrikers in jail
is actually dropping.

Experts believe a significant factor is the backlog in criminal cases
awaiting trial on a crowded court calendar. Of the county's 44 courts, 23
are devoted to criminal cases, said Judge Martin.

In the last year, 15 courts have been open for trial, and 10 of them have
been devoted to homicide cases. Half of those were tied up with the
prosecution of the notorious Nuestra Familia prison gang cases.

The courts have also been terribly shortstaffed, Martin added, to the
point where three retired judges have been brought back to help deal with
the backlog.

Since this summer, county officials have been putting their heads together
to come up with potential solutions before a breakdown occurs, said McHugh.

Among some BandAid answers are raising the level at which someone is
considered eligible for bail release. For example, anyone who has bail set
at $5,000 or less can be released after being booked. Officials suggest
raising that level to $10,000 so that more inmates will be eligible for
release.

Others says the courts have not taken full advantage of alternative
sentencing options such as electronic monitoring, weekend work furlough
or boot camp which would relieve the strain in the jails.

Early release is also being considered, although only as a lastresort
option, said jail director Vasquez. This controversial method was used two
years ago, when 186 inmates were freed.

``This should not be seen as opening the floodgates. We would only allow
very specific, nonviolent categories of inmates who only have a few days
remaining to be served out early,'' he said.

Primarily, the answer lies in attacking the whole system, from courts to
probation to jails, Vasquez emphasized. Others in the task force agree,
saying the attempt to work as a group to solve the problem has been
unprecedented.

Published Tuesday, October 21, 1997, in the San Jose Mercury News