Keep Bailing

Costa Mesa is looking for solutions to help save money, and one option that city officials are looking into seriously is contracting with a private firm to run its jail.

The international security firm G4S Secure Solutions is one of two respondents to the city’s request for bids in staffing and responding the local jail, according to the Daily Pilot. Newport Beach submitted a bid, but only in offering to house inmates at its own facility.

The bid from G4S offered to run the Costa Mesa Jail for $364,640 each year. It’s likely that the staff will have to be doubled, increasing the cost to nearly $614,000. This is still an extreme reduction compared to the current $1.3 million annual cost under the city police department.

The jail is not the only place city officials are looking to outsource operations in order to help reduce future costs. For now, an injunction is in place by the Orange County Superior Court that prohibits the city from outsourcing city jobs to private companies. The city is still allowed to explore all of its options and are deciding on whether to continue speaking with Newport Beach and G4S, ask for more bids, or stop looking at outsourcing altogether.