No ‘Quick Fix’ for Jail Crowding, Gates Says

No “quick-fix” solutions are likely to solve overcrowding at the Orange County Jail within the next two weeks, Sheriff Brad Gates said Tuesday, including $3 million that the Board of Supervisors gave himearlier in the day.

A federal judge’s fine took effect last week and will cost the county $10 a day for each inmate who has to sleep on the floor at the men’s jail in downtown Santa Ana for more than one night.

The number of inmates sleeping on the floor since the March 18 order by U.S. District Judge William P. Gray has been reduced from about 500 to less than 250. County officials took steps two weeks ago to alleviate overcrowding, but Gates said it would take at least six months to implement their plan.

Tuesday, the supervisors asked Gates to report to them next week on several possible emergency solutions. They are: removing tables in the dayrooms next to the cells and replacing them with cots, and using the concrete walkways in front of cells and the holding cells at the courthouse as sleeping quarters.

But Gates said Tuesday that none of those solutions appear feasible. He added that while he was glad to get the $3 million, it isn’t likely the money will accomplish the quick solution the supervisors apparently want.

“We’re going to re-examine all the alternatives, but I don’t think there are any quick-fix solutions,” Gates said. “We want those inmates off the floor, but no matter how hard we search, there just aren’t any overnight solutions.”

Gates said he may have a recommendation for the board next week on how the $3 million might be spent. But it is possible, he said, that his office simply will hold the money until Judge Gray gives further direction in two weeks about what should be done.

“Now if the judge comes down with a new order, we’ve at least got some money in a contingency fund to try to do something about it,” Gates said.

Gray found the supervisors and Gates in criminal contempt of court on March 18 for not complying with his seven-year-old order that the jail population be reduced. He fined the county $50,000, plus the $10-a-day fine for each inmate sleeping on the floor. But Gray stayed the $10-a-day order for 60 days to give the county time to do something about overcrowding. The $50,000 is supposed to go toward paying the salary of Lawrence Grossman, the special master Gray appointed to monitor jail conditions.

The jail population at the time of Gray’s order was above 2,000, even though there were just 1,596 bunks in the jail and the recommended capacity is 1,191. The population is currently in the 1,800s and a few bunks have been added, but the number of inmates sleeping on the floor still is more than 200 almost every day, according to Grossman’s regular reports to the court.

Gray will be out of town until June 3. But attorneys for both the county and the American Civil Liberties Union, which first brought the complaint to Gray, expect him either to call a new hearing or talk to them in a conference call immediately after he returns.

“We’re hoping that the judge will see that we have tried to take action and will drop the fines,” Deputy County Counsel Edward Duran said.

Moved to Cut Numbers

After the March 18 hearing, Gates drastically reduced the number of federal and state prisoners that he would accept at the jail and asked police agencies in the county to tighten the screening of people arrested and brought to the jail.

The supervisors, in attempting to whittle away at overcrowding at the main jail in Santa Ana, set up a task force. And two weeks ago, acting on the task force’s recommendations, they approved triple bunking at the jail and setting up temporary housing for nonviolent prisoners at the James A. Musick Honor Farm. But Gates said Tuesday that those projects could take up to nine months to implement.

In a letter to fellow board members Tuesday, Supervisors Ralph Clark and Harriett Wieder stated that approval of the Musick expansion and the other steps represent “the good faith efforts to meet the requirements of Judge Gray’s order. However, strong as they may be, those actions did not respond to the immediate requirement to move inmates off the floor within the 60-day grace period.”

The $3 million and the request for a report on emergency solutions, they stated, was an attempt “to comply with the court’s order more quickly” than the Musick proposal would have done.

Gates said he does not want to be locked into “definitely” discarding any of the proposals, but he added that there were problems with each one that all but eliminated them.

For example:

- Using cots in the dayroom: Although the county has enough spare cots to keep all inmates off the floor, the tables in the dayrooms would have to be taken out to make room for them.

“We would be eliminating a recreation area to make room for more sleeping quarters, and we believe that would create even more tension,” Gates said.

Although inmates now sleep on the dayroom floors, the rooms still are used for recreation. Without the tables, they wouldn’t be, Gates said.

He added that the cots are not feasible because they are made with wood bases and not only create a fire hazard but can be torn apart and used as weapons by violent inmates.

- Using the deck area: Inmates who have to sleep on the floor say they prefer the deck area, called “the beach,” to the dayrooms because fewer people step over them. But jail officials try not to use the decks more than necessary because it violates the state fire marshal’s code. Gates said it is not a feasible place to set up cots for that reason.

- Using the holding cells: These are the cells in the basement of the courthouse where inmates are detained for several hours during the day while waiting to make court appearances. Gates said these cells are unsuitable as sleeping quarters because they do not have adequate shower and toilet facilities. The idea isn’t feasible because it would require extra manpower at night, he added.

In other action regarding the jail Tuesday, the supervisors established a new senior administrative analyst position to monitor the $3 million, which actually remains under county control. Norb Puff, an analyst in the county administrative office, will hold the new position. He is expected to be the supervisors’ liaison on future jail matters, such as building of the intake/release facility scheduled for 1986, and a second jail in the county in 1999.