County May Lease Beds to Expand East Mesa Jail : Funding: Under new proposal, state would pay for space at Descanso Honor Camp to defray costs of bringing Otay Mesa facility into full operation.

In yet another effort to open 216 badly needed beds at the East Mesa Jail, a proposal was introduced Thursday to fund the jail’s expansion by leasing beds elsewhere to the state, county officials said.

Money received from leasing 100 beds for state parole violators at the Descanso Honor Camp would allow the county to hire the employees needed to operate additional beds at East Mesa Jail on Otay Mesa.

“Creativity and seriousness of purpose have really brought us to this point. . . . We’re going to open this facility no matter how difficult it is because it’s our highest priority,� County Supervisor Susan Golding said.

San Diego Sheriff Jim Roache described the lease concept as a “significant improvement� and a “step forward� toward improving the county’s critical jail needs.

“It doesn’t solve the jail overcrowding problem, but it does create a situation where 216 more people can be booked into jail and taken off the streets,� Roache said. “I think that makes the community safer.�

Leasing beds at Descanso would generate 125,000 this year. That amount would be added to $90,000 Golding hopes to divert from the county’s criminal justice construction fund to the sheriff’s budget.

Pending approval by the County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday, the plan would bring the 512-bed East Mesa facility to full operation by mid-May by providing the money to hire 39 deputy sheriffs, cooks, nurses and other support staff members.

The 2,000-bed East Mesa Jail was completed last October. But only 296 beds are now occupied by prisoners. The remaining beds in the medium-security jail and the 1,500 more in a nearby maximum-security facility remain empty largely because of a lack of funding.

The latest proposal is the result of an earlier direction by the Board of Supervisors to David Jansen, the county’s chief administrative officer, to find new ways to open the prison.

Board members and other county officials said they plan to press forward with their search for new funding sources that will enable the county to open the now vacant 1,500-bed maximum-security facility as soon as possible.

“We don’t know what the new budget year will hold for us, but it’s still our priority that it will open,� Golding said. Supervisor George Bailey, who also supports the latest proposal, agreed.

“We’re going to open this a step at a time, and we’re going to open it as fast as we have money because that’s our commitment to the people,� Bailey said.

Under consideration is finding a way to tap into $330 million collected from the now dead Proposition A jails’ tax or possibly leasing more beds at the Descanso Honor Camp.

Consolidating the El Cajon and Las Colinas jails also is viewed as a way to free staff members needed to open the maximum-security jail.