Changes Planned After Jail Clash

In the wake of a recent clash involving 40 inmates at the Orange County Central Jail, authorities are increasing anger-management programs but fear chronic overcrowding could lead to more violence.

The holiday season often brings heightened tensions at the jail, officials said, as inmates deal with separation from their families. The most recent incident, in which three deputies and eight inmates suffered bruises and cuts, occurred over the Thanksgiving weekend.

“Around the holidays, inmates have more anxiety because they would rather be home,” said Susan Bellonzi, who runs inmate counseling programs for the Sheriff’s Department. “We have to be extra diligent in recognizing problems between inmates. This is the time of year when the potential for violence is bigger.”

The county’s jail system is one of the most overcrowded in the nation. It was built to handle 3,880 inmates but now houses about 5,300 at any given time.

The space crunch has worsened over the last year because of a policy by Sheriff Mike Carona to cut the number of inmates who are released before their sentences are up. Such early releases have dropped by more than a third by better utilizing jail beds.

Deputies in previous years kept beds free to ensure that inmates could be segregated along gang affiliation lines. But those beds are now being filled, raising the specter of placing rivals together and unleashing more fights.

“It’s very, very frustrating,” Assistant Sheriff Rocky Hewitt said. “We need more beds.”

The Thanksgiving weekend incident began when four deputies searched cells for drugs and weapons. Inmates threw items around and destroyed toilets, Hewitt said. It took 30 deputies to quell the outburst.

The Sheriff’s Department is now planning to offer more anger-management training. Additional activities--ranging from gardening to physical exercise--will be offered to reduce inmate stress levels.

Deputies also are looking out for stress and anger signals, especially during the holidays.

“There is a heightened awareness,” said Kim Markusen, who commands the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange. “We’re extra vigilant.”

The season is usually a time when people evaluate their lives and look to the future, Markusen added, so inmates are more susceptible to anger and depression.

Despite the overcrowding, Orange County’s jail system has been free of major violence. The last significant problems occurred in 1994, when a series of 10 racially motivated confrontations between black and Latino inmates occurred.

A report on the incidents concluded “the jail environment houses criminals with backgrounds of non-social behavior. This behavior does not improve inside the jail system where living conditions are crowded and tempers short.”

Orange County’s benchmark study on jail overcrowding, prepared by Omni-Group Inc., warned that tight conditions could result in stronger inmates abusing weaker and mentally disturbed inmates.

The county has been looking for ways to build more jails for two decades. But two major stumbling blocks remain: neighborhood opposition and a lack of money.

Carona is searching for a site in South County to locate a new jail. The Board of Supervisors, meanwhile, is moving forward with plans to greatly expand the James A. Musick Branch Jail in Irvine.

The Musick expansion is strongly opposed by nearby residents and helped inspire an initiative on the 2000 ballot that would require voter approval for new jail facilities and other controversial projects such as airports and landfills.

Carona said the county needs an extra 5,100 beds within a decade.

For now, officials said they are doing all they can to prevent problems. At the Central Jail, they are concerned about security at the mess hall, where only four deputies oversee hundreds of inmates.

“It’s like the kernels in a popcorn can,” Hewitt said. “You keep holding the lid on, but at some time the lid is gonna come off.”