Orange County Closes Women’s Jail
July 17, 2009
This week has seen the closing of Orange County Women’s Jail. The County will now house female inmates and defendats at the Intake Release Center (known as IRC) and James Musick Jail, known as “The Farm”.
The County hopes to use the facility which formerly held Orange County’s female inmate population for “Beds For Feds,” where the federal government pays the County to house inmates. The Santa Ana Police Department does the same with their jail with great success and financial boon for the city. It’s my understanding that the city is taking in $100 per night per federal inmate. Orange County hopes to house female federal inmates at a rate of $200 per night.
The closure of the OCJ Women’s Jail causes women to be moved to other facilities not originally intended for females. The County is attempting to use its facilities in the most effective manner. OC is able to mix pretrial and sentenced inmates because they utilize a Classification System. Inmate Classification is a means of identifying and categorizing inmate traits, characteristics and potential risk factors. The idea is to facilitate security by grouping inmates. Factors taken into account include current offense or conviction, criminal history, substance abuse and stability factors.
