ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Measure J: The Best We Can Do for Now

Surely, there are better ways to attack Orange County’s jail crisis than Measure J, which is before voters today. But, unfortunately, no others are on the table and the county’s jail overcrowding has reached the point where something must be done, and quickly. Approval of Measure J, which would increase sales taxes by a half-cent to pay for a new jail and other criminal justice facilities, would at least move toward a solution.

Measure J was put on the ballot by a jail commission appointed in February by the Board of Supervisors, which had been stalemated since it selected Gypsum Canyon near the Anaheim Hills four years ago as a site for a new 6,720-bed jail. In February, at the urging of Sheriff Brad Gates, the supervisors finally agreed to give voters an opportunity to vote on a jail tax. Measure J, which would increase sales taxes to 7% from 6 1/2%, would raise an average of $343 million a year over 30 years.

Gates’ predicament over the jails situation is perhaps the best illustration of Orange County’s dilemma. In order to comply with a federal court order to reduce overcrowding in the Santa Ana Men’s Jail, Gates has administered cite-and-release and early-release programs that have resulted in about 850 misdemeanants a week not serving their jail time. But that’s angered Municipal Court judges. Last week, one found Gates guilty of 17 counts of contempt for illegally releasing prisoners to relieve jail overcrowding. Meanwhile, the federal court may be on the verge of forcing Gates to further reduce the inmate population in county jails.

Given the gravity of the jails problem, and its longevity as a political issue, one would have hoped that any ballot measure that finally went before voters would have been thoughtfully prepared. Measure J, however, was hastily put together in a matter of a few weeks. Not surprisingly, it has flaws. Nowhere in it, for example, is there a mention of Gypsum Canyon or specifics as to what other criminal justice and court facilities would be built. Were the measure approved, an aggressive citizens’ commission would be needed to help map out the details.

Given the Board of Supervisors’ record on handling the jail problem, however, residents may not have another chance, at least for many years, to move forward in providing Orange County with desperately needed jail facilities. Measure J may not be perfect, but it is good enough. It deserves support.