Jail expansion, why? A case study of San Diego County, California, 1975--1995

As the prisoners' civil rights movement of the 1960s progressed into the 1970s, prison and jail lawsuits came to focus less on rights of citizenship, such as First Amendment freedoms, and more on adverse physical conditions inside jails and prisons, and especially on crowding. Simultaneously, the rate of incarceration in jails and prisons was increasing, public interest concerning jails and prisons was growing, and public officials were turning their attention to jail and prison crowding. In response to these factors, public officials requested and received more staff and increased budgets to finance new jails and prisons.; In the period of about 1975 to 1995, San Diego County, California expanded the capacity of its jails more than four-fold. The dissertation asks whether jail litigation played a role in this process of jail expansion. The study relies on interviews of County legislators and other official witnesses who played a significant role in making public policy regarding San Diego's jails during this 20-year period. The study also relies on archives, such as court records, newspapers, and official needs assessments, which describe San Diego's detentions policy during that period. San Diego was selected as a site for this case study because, during the 1980s, the County was said to have the most crowded jail system in California.; The author concludes that the judicial remedies invoked in the San Diego litigation focused attention on overcrowding. Jail conditions were improved by the litigation. However, over the long term, jail litigation played a role in channeling public policy toward the construction of new jails and away from non-incarcerative alternatives. The litigation contributed to the expansion of the Sheriff's budget. The litigation facilitated consolidation of almost all of the County detention function under the jurisdiction of the Sheriff. The litigation increased the power of the Sheriff in relation to the power of the County Legislature.; Relying on writings of Max Weber and Michel Foucault, the author also concludes that San Diego's jails have become more bureaucratic. The San Diego jails are more coordinated and more uniform, and they provide a more secure system of prisoner population control.