Orange County Commentary : Editorials : Jail Problems and Solutions

The Orange County Jail has things in common with some of its inmates. It is unpleasant in the extreme, and worrying about it doesn’t seem to help.

In recent years, there has been a constant stream of criticism directed at the main jail--and the Sheriff’s Department that runs it--over the health care provided prisoners, the relatively high number of inmate deaths, poor communications between county health and jail officials, overcrowded conditions that lead to prisoner unrest and jeopardize the safety of sheriff’s deputies that serve as jailers, and what one county grand jury termed its “oppressive and threatening atmosphere.”

Other issues have included the practice of the sheriff-coroner, rather than an outside pathologist, determining the causes of jail deaths, the low morale of jail deputies, and whether the county should use corrections officers rather than deputies.

Last month, some of the jail’s mental health workers threatened a work stoppage in a dispute over how a psychiatrist handled one inmate’s care. And, currently, the union representing the sheriff’s deputies at the main jail is considering job actions to force changes in what it claims are intolerable conditions that threaten the lives of the deputies.

It’s no wonder that county Supervisor Ralph Clark is interested in looking into contracting with private industry to operate one or more of the county’s jail facilities.

There has been a growing trend for government to contract with the private sector to provide services. That includes not only running existing jails, but also having private contractors build and operate new lockup facilities. Where private industry can provide a service more efficiently and economically than government, it’s worth a try. But not all services lend themselves to that approach.

We think Clark is on the right track. But no study should be limited to the issue of contracting out jail operations. A study should explore alternatives, including the Department of Corrections approach that uses officers hired and trained specifically for jail facilities. Under the county’s present system, deputies trained as patrolmen are first required to work several years in the jail before they are put in patrol cars.

In any consideration of streamlining operations at jail facilities, the use of more diversion programs, especially detoxification centers, must be high on the county board’s agenda.

Diverting problem drinkers to a medical facility where they could obtain the care, counseling and rehabilitation they need would do much more than finally recognize the reality that alcoholism is a medical problem that cannot be adequately treated in a courtroom or jail cell. It would also ease the overcrowded court dockets and jail cells and reduce their operating costs.

Last year, the county was working on establishing a sobering-up station where public inebriates could be taken for help instead of lockup. It still hasn’t opened. Its opening should be one of the board’s top priorities this year, along with satisfying the public that Orange County has the most humane, efficient and economical jail system possible.