Community members,

Do you believe we need to stop jail construction & expansion in Orange County? Then join us in urging Irvine Mayor Farrah Khan and city council members to put pressure on the Orange County Board of Supervisors and Sheriff Don Barnes to cancel the James A. Musick expansion contract.  

On May 5, 2020, OC supervisors unanimously approved a construction agreement to expand the James A. Musick Facility in Irvine and build 896 new jail beds. Irvine residents strongly opposed the plan when it was introduced in the 1990s leading to legal battles over land use and environmental impacts. A settlement was reached in 2000, after then Sheriff Mike Carona, who was convicted and sentenced to federal prison a few years later, negotiated a proposal to scale back the expansion. The City of Irvine again filed lawsuits in 2008 and 2012.

Today, the OC jail population is at a historic low and the country is facing the financial and human costs of the now year-long pandemic, yet the county is rushing to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to expand a jail that has been empty for close to two years. The expansion would increase the county jail system’s rated capacity to roughly twice what the current jail population is now. More than 60% of people inside are people of color, and roughly 65% of the entire jail population has not been convicted of the charges they are facing. They remain inside because they can’t afford bail.

Sheriff Barnes claims that these new beds are for “mental health.” The Sheriff’s Department already has funds meant to provide mental health treatment to incarcerated people and is Constitutionally required to do so, but refuses to do so. Further, mental health issues cannot be addressed when a person is inside of a cage. Instead, this jail will further criminalize our neighbors, particularly the unhoused and people of color.

Board of Supervisor staff have claimed the expansion is in direct response to previous lawsuits or threats of lawsuits. This is a false claim. There is no lawsuit that requires OCSD to add 900 new jail beds.

Spending $350 million to expand an empty jail is a waste of taxpayer money, especially when we need those dollars to fund community-based healthcare, mental health support, and affordable housing.

Cancelling the Musick expansion is a racial and disability justice issue as well as a financial imperative. More incarceration is not the solution to a failing social safety net.

Thanks to your signatures and pressure on social media, Mayor Khan tweeted that the discussion on the Musick Jail will be on the April 13th City Council meeting agenda.

It is important we keep the pressure on! Please sign this petition today and share your comments at the 3/23 *and* 4/13 meetings.