Update on Musick Jail

BACKGROUND

Several years ago the County decided to build a new jail on the grounds of Musick Jail, a piece of County land that lies between the cities of Irvine and Lake Forest, between Bake and Alton and East of Trabuco. The State agreed to provide $100,000,000 as part of their consent agreement with the federal courts to reduce the size of the State prisons. Now, instead of going to the State prisons, more serious offenders will stay in their County, and across the State 20+ new jails are being built.

In many places, the jails are being built in rural settings, and in many more places they are being built away from residential development, for obvious reasons - the safety of the residents and the property values are just two such reasons. Click here for more information on this topic

In Orange County, however, unlike any of the other projects, the new jail is being built very close to residential homes, and moreover, these homes are more highly priced than the other homes impacted by the 20+ new jails being built. To add insult to injury, the new 512 bed jail proposed by the Sheriff was slated to have 32 maximum security cells.

OPPOSITION

The project was so blatantly inappropriate for the area that the City of Irvine sued the County, several times. They lost their first case and lost the appeal. They lost their second case and are awaiting the result of their appeal.

Our City Council then (Voigts, Herzog, Tettemer, McCullough, Rudolph) not only did not join with Irvine, they publically endorsed the project and claimed it was a victory for the City because the Sheriff agreed to have fewer than 7,584 prisoners on the grounds. Of course the economics of the situation clearly dictated that the Sheriff couldn’t build and staff enough facilities to house 7,584 people, and in fact the money to add just 512 beds was enormous ($100,000,000) and had to come from the State. In my opinion, it was a hollow victory at best. The Sheriff agreed not to do something she was unable to do anyway. In return we agreed to conditions that most people would find unacceptable. I reported on this in great detail a while ago and interested readers should refer to those articles. Click here and Here for the specifics.

Ever since the project was announced I have been vocal in my opposition, not only to the location of the jail (so close to residential) but also to the creation of 32 maximum security cells. Residents Bob Holzclaw and Merijoe Axelrod were also active in opposing the jail and the maximum security cells. At times we were the lone voices.

We were told “it’s a done deal”, “there’s nothing you can do”, etc. But we persevered. At times City officials and City Council members misrepresented the terms of the agreement to the public claiming there were no “maximum security” cells in the plans. Several times I had to publically correct them and produce copies of the Agreement that indeed pointed to the existence of maximum security cells. As recently as a few weeks ago I had to do this again when a Police official misspoke.

Why did City officials and City Council members misrepresent the terms of the agreement? I can’t say. Just guessing, I think it’s because the terms of the agreement allowed the Sheriff to do just about whatever she pleased, as long as she notified the City Manager that she was going to do it. Such is the might of the Sheriff’s office, as we’ve seen lately in the discussions about the Police contract.

The new jail and the maximum security cells were a problem for the home developers, some of whom are building million dollar homes within a gun shot’s distance from the proposed jail. The escape record from Musick has not been stellar, and the thought of more serious offenders moving in next door is not exactly a good selling point. Of course the Sheriff assured us that the new jail would come with new and superior containment systems, and given that she planned to have 32 Maximum Security cells, better containment is a must.

THE LATEST NEWS

Last week the City staff met with the Sheriff, and she informed us that the maximum security cells were being removed from the plans. The jail is still going to be built, and she hopes to have it operational by 2019, but not with maximum security prisoners.

This is a major victory for the people who live in Lake Forest and Irvine. It would be better not to have the new jail here at all, but given the givens, at least we will not have the maximum security cells.

“Thank you Sheriff Hutchens” for listening to our concerns. I suspect that from a cost and an operational perspective, not having maximum security cells at Musick is a preferred solution anyway. But regardless, on behalf of the citizens of Lake Forest and Irvine I think it’s safe to say that we are happy with the outcome.

Our joy is mixed with the news that the 512 bed jail is going ahead and will be operational in a few years, but there is an opportunity for us to make lemonade out of the lemon. If the Sheriff would allow the County to use some of the Musick Jail land for a South County satellite of the County animal shelter, we could solve a number of problems at once -

• · The new prisoners will need something to occupy their time, and there is ample evidence that “Prisoner and pet” programs are worthwhile for prisoners and pets.
• · The decades long delay in building a new shelter because no suitable land can be found is solved instantaneously by using existing County land, and the need (as evidenced by the latest Grand Jury reports) for a number of shelters instead of a single shelter can be satisfied, accommodating the South County cities who have been badly served by the shelter in Orange.
• · Opening a satellite shelter will take the pressure off the existing shelter which has been routinely condemned for several decades, and which even now has little prospects of being replaced.

There is a lesson here about fighting the good fight, about protecting the safety of our residents, and about not giving up in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. There is also a lesson about compromise and serving the greater good.

The bottom line - “Thank You Sheriff Hutchens” for listening to our concerns.

PS – You can help. E-mail Sheriff Hutchens, thank her for removing the maximum security cells from Musick, and ask her to consider allowing the County to build a South County satellite animal shelter on the grounds of Musick. Her e-mail address is sheriffsadmin@ocsd.org

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dr. Jim Gardner is on the City Council for Lake Forest. You can check him out on LinkedIn and/or Facebook and you can share your thoughts about the City at Lake Forest Town Square on Facebook. His comments are not meant to reflect official City Policy.

Dr. Gardner has office hours every Tuesday from 3 pm to 5 pm at the City Hall. In addition, he holds a mini town meeting every month. The next meeting will be on August 15 at 2 pm at the El Toro Public Library.

BRN,