The Orange County Grand Jury took renewed aim at the Sheriff's Department's overcrowded jails, reporting Thursday that relief was at least two years away and warning that state prison changes threatened to worsen the problem.
In its 18-page report, the panel also recommended that as many as 40 full-time deputies be hired to work at the 576-bed Building B at the Theo Lacy Branch Jail. The building, one of several on the compound, is staffed exclusively by deputies working overtime at a cost of $5.5 million, money that could be better used to cover the full-time salaries, the panel said.
"The advantage of using overtime is that no additional pension or healthcare benefits must be paid," the grand jury wrote. "However, this savings is offset by the additional cost of overtime pay and the stress that overtime work could, in the long run, result in an increase in sick leave and poorer job performance."
The grand jury recommended that the Sheriff's Department expand its hiring program to reduce the need for overtime deputies; work with state lawmakers to ensure that the governor's plan does not burden the jails; and expedite plans to expand the James A. Musick jail, which has about 1,300 beds but is slated for 7,500 at final build-out.
For the most part, the grand jury's annual review echoed criticisms about overcrowding raised year after year by previous panels.
Although the report is the first issued since the slaying of an inmate last year, it makes only passing reference to the death's being the first homicide since 1994.
The Orange County district attorney's office has impaneled a special grand jury to investigate allegations that John Derek Chamberlain was fatally beaten by fellow inmates Oct. 5 after guards allegedly told them, mistakenly, that he had been accused of child molestation. In fact, Chamberlain had been charged with possession of child pornography.
Chamberlain was killed in a minimum-security unit known as F Barracks West at Theo Lacy in Orange. With a capacity for 3,111 men, Theo Lacy is the largest of the department's five jails and houses primarily maximum-security inmates.
Six current and former inmates have been charged with murder in Chamberlain's death. His father has filed a $20-million wrongful-death claim against the county, alleging that guards allowed influential inmates to review paperwork outlining the charges and mistakenly told inmates that Chamberlain was a child molester.
