Expansion of County’s Only Women’s Jail Is Approved

Creating new jail beds for the second time this month, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved the expansion of the county’s only women’s jail. But the move touched off a potentially bitter dispute with Sheriff John Duffy over how to staff the county jails.

By a unanimous vote, the supervisors approved a 192-bed expansion at the overcrowded Las Colinas women’s jail in Santee, where the inmate population consistently is more than double the official capacity of 176. The project’s construction and first-year operational expenses will total about $750,000, with the City of San Diego and the county equally sharing the cost.

Tuesday’s action came three weeks after the board approved construction of a 600-bed temporary men’s jail adjacent to the Las Colinas facility to help alleviate overcrowding in the county’s other jails. Despite renewed complaints from Santee residents, the supervisors reaffirmed that decision on Tuesday by approving an architectural contract for the temporary men’s jail.

While Duffy has lobbied for the Las Colinas expansion project for the past two years, his satisfaction with the board’s action Tuesday was diminished considerably when the supervisors used the occasion to order a change in the sheriff’s jail staffing policy to reduce personnel costs.

Stage Set for Showdown

Led by Supervisor Leon Williams, the board decided that the expanded Las Colinas jail and the adjacent men’s facility should be staffed, not by deputy sheriffs, as is Duffy’s current practice, but rather by corrections officers--a personnel shift that county officials estimate would save $10,000 to $20,000 annually in salary and benefits per position.

Duffy, who did not attend the meeting, later described the board’s action as “wholly inappropriate” and indicated in a statement released late Tuesday that he does not intend to follow the supervisors’ direction to hire so-called “limited-duty deputies” for the jails. That defiance sets the stage for a jurisdictional showdown over whether the final authority for staffing decisions within the Sheriff’s Department rests with Duffy or the supervisors.

“While limited-duty deputies may cost less than fully trained deputies, my responsibility is to ensure the security of the inmates and staff and to protect the public, particularly the residents of Santee,” Duffy said in the statement. “I have no intention of compromising the safety and security of jail inmates and staff, or jeopardizing the community, by allowing inappropriate security staffing at Las Colinas.”

Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. John Tenwolde stated Duffy’s reaction to the supervisors’ action in even blunter terms: “He’s simply not going to go along with it.” Tenwolde added that Duffy likely will meet with the supervisors soon in an attempt to persuade them to rescind Tuesday’s decision.

The motivation behind Tuesday’s action, the supervisors said, is primarily an economic one. Noting that corrections officers staff state prisons, Williams argued that adoption of the same policy in the county’s jails would “let us get the same job done at much less cost.”

“If the state can use correctional officers in maximum-security prisons with hardened criminals, there’s no reason on earth why we can’t do it in county jails,” Williams said. “We’re just throwing away taxpayers’ money if we continue things as they are now.”

The Las Colinas expansion project and the temporary men’s jail were expected to require the hiring of nearly 100 additional deputy sheriffs. At the minimum estimated savings of $10,000 per position, the board’s action could cut the county’s staffing costs by at least $1 million annually.

When similar proposals have surfaced in the past, Duffy, in addition to arguing that the presence of sworn deputies enhances the jails’ security, has contended that service in the jails provides good training for new deputies who later will serve patrol duty.

County Budget Cuts Cited

But, after repeatedly listening to that argument, the supervisors pointedly emphasized Tuesday that they find it unpersuasive--particularly at a time when the county faces severe budget cuts in social welfare programs in order to fund needed criminal justice programs. Earlier this month, the board cut the funding of many county departments and programs by nearly $7 million to finance the temporary men’s jail. And the supervisors plan to seek at least $20 million in other budget reductions later this year to build new permanent jails and finance their operation.

“I’ve had a lot of questions about why it’s necessary to have uniformed officers doing jail duty when we could have someone else who is a specialist at it doing it for less,” Supervisor John MacDonald said. “The only answer I keep hearing is that we’ve always done it that way. Well, that’s just not good enough for me.”

Williams added: “The sheriff says this is good training. But if someone’s going to spend his whole career working in a detention facility, there’s no need to train him and pay him as a deputy. Deputies’ primary duty should be out on the streets making arrests and protecting citizens, not supervising prisoners.”

County administrators conceded that Tuesday’s decision could result in certain new jail employees being paid much less to do the same job as deputy sheriffs.

But Williams pointed out that “unequal salary for the same job” is not uncommon in the private sector, noting that seniority and other factors influence employees’ pay.

The Las Colinas expansion, which will consist of three relocatable modular dormitories, is expected to be completed by next February, according to Rich Robinson, director of the county’s special projects office. However, Robinson warned the supervisors that that timetable could be delayed “depending on the sheriff’s reaction” to using corrections officers in the facility.

Aware of Duffy’s past opposition, the supervisors took steps to guarantee that Tuesday’s staffing decision is not undermined or blocked by administrative foot-dragging in filling the new corrections officer positions.

“We do not want pocket vetoes on our actions,” Supervisor Brian Bilbray told Chief Administrative Office Norman Hickey and his staff. “If a slowdown becomes an issue, inform this board immediately.”

Duffy’s chilly response appears to ensure that the subject will reappear on the board’s agenda in the near future.

Residents Voice Opposition

During Tuesday’s debate, a handful of Santee residents repeated arguments that they used unsuccessfully three weeks ago while trying to block the proposed temporary men’s jail in urging the supervisors--again without success--to reject the Las Colinas expansion.

Jan Clark, president of the Santee school board, told the supervisors that prisoners released from Las Colinas often linger in the community on nearby school grounds, asking students for money and occasionally offering to sell them drugs.

To avoid such problems, Santee resident Erron Downs suggested that prisoners be released only in the evenings or on weekends, when students are not in school.

“I’m not trying to dump (the problem) into someone else’s backyard; I’m just trying to find a way our kids will be safe,” Downs said. Several supervisors praised Downs’ suggestion and, hopeful that it might minimize Santee’s opposition, directed county administrators to study its feasibility.