The OC Board of Supervisors this morning approved the county’s bid for $100 million in state funding for expansion of the James A. Musick jail, commonly called “The Farm.”

The vote came despite protests raised by several City of Orange officials, who oppose the application because it includes a plan to parole state inmates out of the Theo Lacy jail, which is in Orange. Councilman Denis Bilodeau said residents in the new neighborhoods in the western part of the city will create “fierce opposition.”

Orange officials also said the expansion of the Theo Lacy jail would violate a 1996 agreement it has with the county that caps the numbers of beds there.

“I can’t stand here and tell you that we will just go quietly into the night,” said John Sibley, Orange’s city manager.

But Supervisor Bill Campbell, who represents Orange, said the county needs the state funding because the jails are once again overflowing and the county needs more beds at Musick as it risks increasing the number of inmates it allows out on before they fulfil their entire sentence.

The county’s jail system grew  24.1% between 1997 and 2007, according to the sheriff’s department.

“Friends, we’re at capacity again,” Campbell said. “If we don’t do something, there will be early releases. So let’s be clear on that.”

However, Campbell said city and county officials must work “side-by-side” in crafting the bid for the state funds.

The sheriff’s department is currently trying to win the $100 million under a state law that offered the funds to counties based on jail projections through 2011. The bid is due next week and the county will learn if it won in May.

A needs assessment done by the sheriff’s department showed that the system needs to add 3,218 beds just to meet the year 2011 projection of 8,297 system-wide beds. As part of the state deal, the county had to create a “re-entry facility” — a place to parole state inmates. The sheriff’s department proposed placing that at Theo Lacy, with the plans calling for increasing state parollees there by 292 inmates.

Read more about the sheriff’s proposal here.

Posted in: OC cities • Sheriff |

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.