Plugging Probation’s Holes : Adding staff to overburdened jail system is good first step

Orange County’s criminal justice system sometimes looks like a garden hose filled with holes. Duct tape can provide temporary patches, but that just puts the pressure somewhere else and eventually causes another rupture.

For years, the county’s jails have been so overcrowded that inmates are put back on the streets before serving their full terms. That frees beds to be filled by those awaiting trial or sentenced criminals considered greater risks to society. In many instances, men charged with misdemeanors who would be locked up if there were enough space never spend a night in jail before trial. They are simply given summonses and told to show up in court on the appointed day.

The early releases would be less troublesome if there were sufficient Probation Department staffers to supervise the criminals. There aren’t. The department suffered greatly due to budget cuts following the December 1994 bankruptcy. While other branches of the criminal justice apparatus, such as the district attorney’s office and the Sheriff’s Department, escaped relatively unscathed, the Probation Department was forced to lay off 60 workers, including 10 of its 91 probation officers.

The department also was forced to end a work-furlough program, which allowed offenders to hold down jobs and support their families, as well as pay restitution to their victims.

The county’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year, released last week, would add more staffers to the Probation Department, a welcome addition. The county also needs to try to reinstitute work furlough. There is also a need for a serious examination of other methods to free jail beds, such as dispatching more accused criminals to drug treatment facilities.

Judges and other experts in the criminal justice field believe there’s a better chance of making sure someone accused of a minor crime doesn’t commit another one if he is given an alternative to jail and is closely supervised. It’s obviously cheaper for taxpayers if someone’s first brush with police is also his last. But to make that happen, alternative programs and people to supervise them are both necessary.

Probation officers are struggling with heavier caseloads because of cuts in the department’s budget. Worse, the former inmates being supervised are considered more likely to commit crimes again, making the cases more difficult.

Orange County has been lucky so far that relatively few of those released early from jail or let off with summonses have committed violent crimes during the period they would have been jailed had there been space. We shouldn’t press our luck any further.