Garden Grove Officials Ponder Private Jail Plan : Overcrowding: Two sites are being studied as councilmen explore proposal by developer Kathryn G. Thompson.

By CARLA RIVERA and ROBERT BARKER

April 4, 1992 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Garden Grove city officials said Friday they are considering two industrial locations as possible sites for a proposed jail, which would be financed and operated as a joint public-private enterprise.

City officials said the two sites being studied are a patch of land south of town on Euclid Street and a site along Westminster Avenue near Newhope Street and Harbor Boulevard.

The proposal is the brainchild of developer Kathryn G. Thompson, who is advocating privatization of jail facilities as both more efficient and economic, and has formed a company to explore various jail ventures locally. Thompson also contends that involvement by the private sector may help provide a solution to the problem of critically overcrowded county facilities.

The county has agreed on a short-term plan to expand the Theo Lacy Branch Jail in Orange, but the plan is opposed by many residents and faces a legal challenge from the city.

County Administrative Officer Ernie Schneider has acknowledged communicating with Thompson about a number of proposals, including expanding current facilities and building a new jail on county property in the Anaheim area, as worthy of further exploration.

But several members of the Board of Supervisors reportedly have been skeptical of the proposals, questioning the source of funding.

“I support privatization, but we are spinning our wheels until we get a revenue source in place,” Supervisor Don R. Roth said.

But the sketchy financial details have not put off Garden Grove officials, who say building a jail could save the city millions of dollars in federal, state and local fees. The city must currently pay the county a $175-per-prisoner fee to house local arrestees at county jails. City officials estimate they spend $750,000 in such booking fees each year.

The city also faces a $3.5-million budget shortfall that will mean cutting 12 to 15 police jobs next year, said Councilman Frank Kessler. The money saved by building a local jail could restore eight to 10 of those jobs, he said.

“The loss of those positions will put us in a critical manpower shortage,” said Kessler, who spent 13 years as Garden Grove’s police chief before joining the City Council. “With the urban problems that we are now facing, we are at a crossroads and must consider anything that restores lost revenue.”

City Councilman Robert F. Dinsen said that if “land can be located in an industrial zone where residents won’t be impacted, it might not be too bad an idea.”

Thompson had proposed building a 250- to 300-bed jail that would house female inmates currently incarcerated in the Central Women’s Jail in Santa Ana. That move would free the existing women’s jail to house maximum-security male inmates, whose housing needs are most critical.

Garden Grove Councilman Mark Leyes had indicated that a women’s jail might prove an easier sell to a skittish community.

However, other council members said housing Garden Grove prisoners should be a priority.

“I don’t know why they would limit it to women,” said Councilman J. Tilman Williams. “I’ve always been an advocate that every town should take care of its own crooks and thieves.”

He allows, though, that the facility “maybe could be rented to our neighbors if not filled up.”

Meanwhile, two county officials traveled to San Diego Thursday to explore the idea of renting an unused San Diego jail on the Mexican border for local inmates.

The East Mesa facility was completed last year at a cost of $79.6 million but has remained closed because San Diego County does not have the money to open or operate it.

Lawrence (Bud) Grossman, a consultant on jail issues for Orange County, said no decisions were made about the feasibility of the plan during the trip. Officials from both counties are still discussing issues such as the number of beds that might be rented, costs per bed, the types of inmates acceptable for transfer and the length of any contract.