Keep Bailing

The Orange County Register Tuesday reported that the County Board of Supervisors has approved a plan to add 512 beds to the James A. Musick jail. This decision, the OCR said, paves the way for Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens to apply for a $100 million state grant. The county will not know whether they will receive the grant funding until early 2013.  Construction, if approved, would not reach completion until 2018.

Although a number of residents have voiced opposition to the plan Sheriff’s officials maintain that the facility will “continue to house minimum security inmates” only.   The expansion is needed, they said, due to the state’s prison realignment program.  Proponents of the plan have pointed out that Orange County jails received close to 300 new inmates during the first month of implementation alone.

Eventually, plans for the facility would include expanding the 1,250-bed facility to 7,500 beds.  The cost to operate the expanded facility would be approximately $28 million per year.  Sources within the Sheriff’s Department said that funding sources Read more »

Our California Jails Series Continues… with Orange County’s James Musick Jail

When you think of Orange County Jail perhaps you think of recent headlines about inmate beatings and overcrowding or perhaps you’ve seen explosive television where the OC Sheriff’s Department is working hard to rebuild it’s image only to have the worst happen. In either case, my guess is you don’t think about song and joy.

Greg Rynerson Bail Bonds continues with the fifth in our series on California jails: Inside Orange County James Musick Jail. Musick, Orange County’s Irvine detention facility, gets “rocked” by “Bobby Cash” (aka Read more »

Being drunk and driving is never a good thing. But being drunk and driving your Mercedes directly through the gates of a jail, well that’s down right ridiculous.

Calling on one, Matthew Van McDaniel. This young man from Los Alamitos actually did such a thing. On January 10th, he lost control and crashed his S550 directly through the gates of the James Musick Correctional Facility in Irvine. When a deputy there tried to restrain him, he actually punched the man breaking his nose.

Jim Armormino, a Sheriff’s spokesperson claimed it was “the first time somebody tried to break into the jail.”

Now, Mr. McDaniel Read more »

At 2:05 on Sunday morning, a man who was allegedly drunk, drove his late model Mercedes through the front gate of an Irvine jail and then fought with a Sheriff’s Department sergeant who was on duty there, according to the Orange County Register.

Matthew Van McDaniel plowed into the James A. Musick Jail and got out of his car, which he left in gear, still running.  The car then hit a tree on the jail campus.

McDaniel, who makes his living as a dancer, managed to successfully pirouette away from the sergeant he attacked, but other deputies soon arrested him on the spot.

“It’s the first time Read more »

Last week, the James A. Musick Jail, a 100-acre detention facility in Irvine better known as “The Farm”, shut down its East Compound.  According to the Orange County Register, Orange County authorities are hoping to save $1 million by doing so.  The move is yet another example of the economic challenges faced by the OC, a community that normally enjoys quite a reputation as the poster child for California affluence.

The OC Sheriff’s Department has had $20 million cut from its budget this year and more than $65 million is still expected to be slashed. “It is essential that we continue to evaluate our operation and identify potential cost savings.” Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said in a written statement.  She also promised the closure would not Read more »

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 Read more »