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| Money Found to Keep California County Jail Open |
| By Ventura County Star |
| Published: 08/05/2003 |
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After months of controversy over plans to close the East County Jail in Thousand Oaks, Ventura County Sheriff Bob Brooks announced July 31 that federal funds would be used to keep the facility open part time through the middle of 2004. The $377,500 allotment is the department's share of a $982,500 award to the county from the federal Bureau of Justice Assistance, officials said. It will be used to keep the jail open for 10 hours every night through June 30, 2004, instead of the current 24/7 schedule. The new plan covers the hours that 60 percent to 70 percent of arrestees are booked at the facility, officials said. 'It literally is one-time money; we wouldn't anticipate being able to get that money again because it was a grant,' Cmdr. Mark Ball said. 'This is only an interim solution, so does that end the problem? Obviously not.' Brooks' announcement came less than three weeks after he said the facility, which books about 3,500 suspects annually, would close Aug. 17. The sheriff had said the closure, which would move nine deputies from the East County Jail to jail facilities in Ventura, would save $800,000 and help meet what Brooks has described as a $10 million shortfall in his agency's budget. The Board of Supervisors voted in June to increase the department's funding by 3.75 percent in General Fund money, but Brooks has said that is insufficient. He joined District Attorney Greg Totten in a lawsuit against the board that was filed in July over their agencies' funding. Brooks' plan to close the jail was protested by officials from the cities of Moorpark, Simi Valley, and Thousand Oaks and the unincorporated communities served by the jail. Among those officials were supervisors Judy Mikels and Linda Parks. Although some critics welcomed Brooks' decision to keep the East County Jail open from 7 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., they said Thursday it was not enough. 'It is certainly more cost-effective and more efficient to keep the jail open,' Parks said Thursday, 'especially when the alternative is putting patrol officers on the 101 freeway, driving back and forth to Ventura.' Thousand Oaks, which put up about two-thirds of the costs for building the East County Jail and station in the 1980s, sued the county this month to prevent the closure. The city might proceed with the litigation in a bid to keep the pressure on, officials said. 'Half a loaf is still only half a loaf,' said Thousand Oaks Councilman Dennis Gillette, a retired sheriff's captain. 'If litigation is the only thing that will keep this issue on everyone's agenda, then my position would be to continue to pursue litigation.' |
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