COUNTY FINDS KEY TO OPENING JAIL.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

Approving a complicated series of moves within Los Angeles County's ailing jail system, the County Supervisors found a way Thursday to open the new - but still vacant - Twin Towers jail and earn up to $37 million renting detention facilities to state and federal authorities.

Included in the plan is the reopening of the Mira Loma jail in Lancaster to house up to 500 detainees for the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Officials said the plan, which will create about 1,800 new jail beds within the county system, will help end the practice in recent years of letting some offenders out of jail early and not even sentencing other small-time offenders.

``It's a great day,'' said Supervisor Deane Dana. ``This is a sound plan . . . that basically (is designed) to get the right people in the right sort of custody facility.''

As part of the plan, Sybil Brand Institute for Women, the system's only women's jail, would be closed for renovation, and the operational expense of running the women's jail would be used to help run Twin Towers.

In addition, the sheriff would house up to 1,900 state and federal prisoners and INS detainees under contracts that could bring in $37 million in revenue but will still force the supervisors to spend an additional $14 million this year to run the Twin Towers jail. An additional $16 million would be needed for next year's operations.

The plan also includes an array of proposals to create $26 million in operational savings at Twin Towers, including replacing highly paid deputies with lower-ranking custodial personnel where possible.

Earlier in the day, the board also resolved about two-thirds of its other budget headaches by ordering $90 million in cuts and spending adjustments throughout the county bureaucracy under a plan outlined by new Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen.

Still unresolved at the end of the day was a decision on how to close a projected $48 million funding gap in the Probation Department because of the loss of federal funds.

In addition, the supervisors are facing possible budget shortfalls in funding for Superior and Municipal courts because of inaction in the state Legislature to resolve a dispute over allocation of government income from court-ordered fines and forfeitures.

The decisions collectively marked a big day for the board, allowing it to resolve and even improve on a number of worrisome problems, particularly the long-delayed opening of Twin Towers, the $300 million, 4,100-bed facility completed in August 1995, but left vacant because the county has had no money to run it.

Under the jail plan, the Sheriff's Department would:

Open Tower 1 of Twin Towers on Jan. 1 and fill it with prisoners from Pitchess Honor Rancho's East Facility, where high-risk prisoners have often been involved in race riots. At Twin Towers, those prisoners would be locked down in high-security individual cells.

Open Tower 2 on April 1 and transfer female prisoners from Sybil Brand, closing the 2,100-bed women's facility to await $35 million in needed repairs and renovation. County officials estimated they could reopen Sybil Brand in three to four years, creating an additional 2,100 beds in the system.

Transfer another group of prisoners from Pitchess' South Facility to the East Facility, again providing a security improvement over what the prisoners currently face. Unused dining and training rooms at Pitchess East also would be converted into 300 more jail beds to accommodate the move.

Contract with the state to house 900 state prisoners, perhaps at the South Facility, which would have 1,000 beds available by April 1.

Move 592 prisoners from Central Jail to newly added beds at Century Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood by expanding into unopened areas of the two-year-old facility.

Lease the 592 Central Jail beds to the U.S. Marshal's Office to be filled with federal prisoners.

Reopen Mira Loma jail in Lancaster to house 500 undocumented alien detainees under a lease with the INS.

``This will have little effect on early release programs, but it will give judges a hammer,'' Block said. ``Now they will have jail beds if violators are not in compliance.''

The Probation Department also proposed a separate $5 million program to speed up handling of prisoners with quicker pretrial programs. That program, which the board also would try to fund, could free up another 1,286 jail beds a year, said Chief Probation Officer Barry Nidorf.

Though the source of the $14 million needed to operate Twin Towers still hasn't been designated, Block and others pointed out that it was less than the $18 million board members had vowed to spend just three weeks ago to open only one of the towers for six months.

The supervisors ordered a task force of criminal justice officials to come back Oct. 10 with funding proposals.

``This is a very doable plan and begins to protect our community once again,'' said District Attorney Gil Garcetti, who said judges need to have a place to send small-time crooks who can repeatedly break misdemeanor laws or ignore probation requirements knowing there has been no jail space available to punish them.

Those misdemeanors include people facing drunk driving, hit-and-run, spousal abuse, assaults, weapons charges and more, officials said.

Municipal Judge Jack Hunt said criminals ``know how crowded the jail is. We haven't been able to enforce the law in the last few years. We have become frustrated. This won't solve all the Municipal Court problems, but it's a good step.''