The Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes has responded in opposition to the recently passed resolution asking for the Board of Supervisors to hold a public forum on the expansion of the James A. Musick Jail in Irvine.

On Tuesday, May 11, the Irvine City Council unanimously passed a resolution asking the Orange County Board of Supervisors to hold a public hearing regarding the on-going expansion of the James A. Musick Jail in Irvine.

The resolution, presented by Vice Mayor Tammy Kim, and co-sponsored by Mayor Farrah N. Khan, was meant to urge the Board Of Supervisors to listen directly to the concerns of Irvine residents who oppose the Musick Jail expansion.

Despite unanimous support from the City Council, Barnes said the resolution ignores the prior opportunities the community has had to address concerns. Barnes added that the resolution comes far too late into the expansion to pause a project of this magnitude.

While Barnes was unavailable for an interview, he did provide a statement to Irvine Weekly. 

From the Sheriff’s perspective, the board has already listened to community concerns and followed “recommended actions.”

Here is the Sheriff’s statement in full:

“The resolution passed by the Council opposing the Musick project and calling for a community forum fails to take into consideration the multiple past opportunities over the last decade to provide public input. This project is one of the most extensively deliberated in Orange County history.  Year after year the Orange County Board of Supervisors has publicly considered multiple recommended actions related to this project. 

Some of those who spoke at recent Irvine City Council meetings demanding they have an opportunity to have their voice heard, have in fact previously spoken at past Board of Supervisor meetings during deliberations on this project.  The public has had their opportunity to give input and their elected representatives have opted to take advantage of funding provided by the State Legislature to construct new housing modules at Musick.

This project is moving forward because it allows us to further enhance the balanced approach to criminal justice that has resulted in historically low crime rates for the City of Irvine. The new jail modules preserves our ability to hold accountable those that seek to violate our laws and harm others, but also provide these individuals with an opportunity to change their ways, receive treatment if needed, and reenter society as a productive citizen.”

During an Irvine City Council meeting in April, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department reported on an ongoing jail expansion project, which includes two separate buildings, with a capacity of more than 800 beds. The department estimated the project was 30% complete. 

Although the Musick facility has been closed since 2019, prior to the expansion project the facility had a capacity of 1,322 inmates. 

Of the four jails in Orange County, the Musick facility was the second largest in terms of maximum population size. Prior to Musick’s temporary closure, only the Theo Lacy Facility had a higher capacity, at 2,080 inmates.

Now, in terms of updated inmate population, Ray Grangoff, Chief of Staff for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, said the new facilities will have a capacity of approximately 890 inmates, which Grangoff attributes to more than a 30 percent reduction in Musick’s total inmate capacity.

“The existing housing structures at the James A. Musick Jail are capable of housing up to 1,322 inmates. The new more secure buildings being constructed under this project can accommodate 896 inmates in total,” Grangoff wrote in an email to Irvine Weekly. “The current plan is to only occupy the new housing structures, representing a 32% reduction in the number of inmates housed.”

For Kim, who says this request is essentially the last step the city can take, said the request comes in the moment of a long battle, in which the city has few resources left.  

“The city has been fighting the Musick jail expansion for decades, and unfortunately we’ve reached a point where we’ve exhausted all legal avenues to stop the County of Orange from pushing through with this expansion,” Kim said in her presentation to the council. “But, I agree a resolution affirming our strong opposition to this expansion will demonstrate our values as a city.”

However, the community seems undeterred, as more community-based organizations are voicing opposition to Musick’s reopening.

Irvine City Council member Anthony Kuo said the Irvine City Council received a letter, thanking the council for passing the resolution.

In addition to siding with the council’s decision in the letter, which was obtained by Irvine Weekly, the organizers behind the Stop The Musick Coalition say they will host a community forum. 

“The Stop the Musick Coalition plans to host a forum to educate the public and Irvine residents about the human and financial costs of jail expansion. We will present the facts about the project’s budget, architectural design, program plans, and capacity. We will invite directly impacted community members to share their experience of being incarcerated in the OC jail system. Our goal is to raise awareness and provide access to information about the project so that residents can make an informed decision about their view of the expansion.”

While the vote on the resolution was unanimous, during the May 11 meeting, Kuo mentioned that there seemed to be a notion that the Board of Supervisors had never held a public forum. 

“It seems the narrative is we’re asking them to hold some sort of public forum, as though they have never held a public forum,” he said. “They are a government agency like we are, they operate under a series of land use regulations and so, I have to assume, that in coming to this decision that they did hold public hearings, that they did hold public forums. Not they they couldn’t do more — so that’s why I don’t have an objection.” 

While Kuo did not object, he asked Kim to remove the words, “and condemns” within the resolution, which Kuo said did not reflect the tone of two agencies working to come to an agreement on something.

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