Irvine Might Scrap Jail Expansion Deal

Irvine’s incoming City Council appears ready to torpedo a plan that would more than triple the size of James A. Musick Jail.

Irvine officials have been working with Lake Forest and Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona for much of the year on a compromise in the long-fought battle over expanding the facility. The county originally wanted to expand the jail to 7,800 beds. The latest proposal calls for 4,400 beds.

The revised plan has the backing of Lake Forest officials, who have long stood with Irvine in opposing any expansion; and Carona, who said more jail beds are needed to ease overcrowding.

Lake Forest’s council Monday unanimously approved the 4,400-bed plan, a move that Mayor Richard T. Dixon called “probably the single most important policy issue the City Council has ever made.”

Musick is in an unincorporated area but within several hundred feet of homes in Lake Forest.

Irvine officials, however, are having second thoughts.

The outgoing City Council, which backed a plan to expand Musick to 4,600 beds last spring, discussed the latest plan last week but did not take a vote. The issue may be decided Dec. 12 after the installation of the new council.

Mayor-elect Larry Agran and council members-elect Beth Krom and Chris Mears campaigned on a platform of no jail expansion. They point out that Irvine residents backed Measure F, a March countywide ballot measure that would have required two-thirds voter approval for new or expanded jails, airports and landfills. The measure, they said, would cap Musick at about 1,000 beds unless voters approved an expansion.

A judge Friday threw out Measure F, saying it violated the state constitution. Still, the new Irvine council members said they are confident Measure F will stand up on appeal and that any compromise at this point would be premature.

“When the community sends a message that they do not want jails, toxic waste sites or airports . . . we have a responsibility to take action,” Krom said.

For more than two decades, Orange County has been under a federal court order to reduce chronic jail overcrowding. Hundreds of thousands of inmates have been granted early releases to make room for incoming offenders, and officials last year blamed the tight conditions for jailhouse riots.

The county’s plan for a 7,800-bed jail at Musick prompted Irvine and Lake Forest to sue. Carona hoped a compromise would allow a modest expansion of the jail and end the litigation.