Board Again Rejects Proposal to Sell Jail

Supervisor Todd Spitzer was shot down again Tuesday in his attempts to have the county sell the James A. Musick Branch Jail near Lake Forest and use the proceeds to buy land for a maximum-security jail elsewhere in the county.

He said a recent appraisal for the Lake Forest Planning Commission placed a $43-million potential price tag on the land. “We can use the land for a higher and better use,” he said.

Spitzer also attempted unsuccessfully to persuade his board colleagues to adopt a resolution calling for future maximum-security jails to be built or expanded away from neighborhoods. Only South County Supervisor Thomas W. Wilson supported him.

Board Chairman William G. Steiner said the board’s policy is to expand existing jails precisely because of the energetic opposition from residents to having a jail as a neighbor.