Incarceration’s Cost: Would Jail Tax Be Worth It?

Let us not talk falsely now

The hour is getting late.

When Bob Dylan wrote those lyrics for “All Along the Watchtower,” he wasn’t talking about the debate over building a new Orange County jail, but Mr. Dylan was nothing if not prescient.

On Tuesday, you can go to the polls and vote on whether to increase the local sales tax a half-cent to pay for a huge new jail.

If you’re like most people I know, you’re probably confused about which way to vote. We all have a sense of how the schools operate, how the courts operate, how the public transportation system operates; however, we don’t have much knowledge of the jail system. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, there’s a ballot proposal to raise the sales tax a half-cent for the next 30 years to build a 6,700-bed jail.

Huh?

You may well be staggering around through the forest of information (or misinformation) you’ve read or heard.

Here’s the road map for my own journey through the forest. Follow at your peril.

What if I don’t vote for it? Will dangerous criminals be running loose?

Sheriff Brad Gates says they will, but I don’t believe that. Or at least I don’t think they should be running loose. Figures from the Sheriff’s Department for last November show that violent felons (murderers, kidnapers, robbers, rapists, assaulters, for example) make up a relatively small percentage of the jail population. If they’re being released instead of less violent inmates, there’s no rationale for it.

Besides, I don’t feel that much safer knowing a guy is staying in jail an extra 30 or 60 days just to finish his sentence. So what if he mugs me on June 1 instead of July 1?

So, I’m not completely sold on the fear factor. But jail space isn’t just about violent felons, is it? What about other people who break the law? Should the guy who admitted stealing money from the Little League get jail time? He’s not violent, but shouldn’t he do some time?

Common sense tells me that as the county has increased in size, so has the number of criminals. Population increases inevitably affect all layers of life and to assume that jail space that was adequate in 1975 is still adequate today is silly.

What about the Gypsum Canyon site, which is where the jail apparently will be built?

I don’t live anywhere near Gypsum Canyon, so it’s fine with me. But I’d vote for a jail in my city, too, if I were convinced it was needed.

Are the opponents, many of whom live near the proposed site, acting selfishly?

Yes, but what’s the big surprise? It’s not exactly a mortal sin to oppose a mammoth jail in your immediate vicinity; it would be abnormal not to. I don’t know why they just don’t acknowledge their self-interest and quit trying to talk around it.

But I can’t oppose the jail just because it’ll ruin someone’s view. The “back-yard issue” has been so silly that a California Angels executive, in opposing several years ago a plan to build the jail near Anaheim Stadium, said he could envision panic in the ballpark if the public address announcer were to interrupt the game and inform fans that a jailbreak had just occurred.

What about the tax increase?

A half-cent tax increase will cost me an extra nickel on a $10 purchase. It’ll cost an extra 50 cents on a $100 purchase. That’s a package of chewing gum for every $100. If I knew Measure J would enhance public safety and deter crime, the tax wouldn’t give me a moment’s pause. I’d consider it a small price to pay.

So if I’m not bothered by the tax or the proposed site and if I acknowledge that a growing county needs more jail space, what’s so difficult about deciding to vote for it?

This is where I get confused. I don’t like this measure because in some ways it’s the easiest way out. If the measure is passed and the jail capacity increases dramatically, I fear that officials will simply walk away from the long-range problem of how to keep people from going to jail in the first place.

Law enforcement officials say criminals need to know they’ll go to jail. But if jail is such a deterrent, why do so many criminals keep going back?

But I have to make a decision. How to simplify the choices?

OK, if I vote against Measure J, can I depend on public officials to go back to the drawing board and make a concerted effort to improve the criminal justice system?

Ha.

There’s no other choice. I’m not convinced that building this jail will solve long-term problems, but my instincts tell me that if the measure doesn’t pass, nothing is going to happen. And that’s a worse scenario.

On Tuesday, I’ll push the lever down very , very slowly and with some trepidation in favor of Measure J.