On a recent morning at the Theo Lacy Facility a line of inmates stood with their faces to the wall to make way for a visitor. The inmates wore mustard colored jumpsuits and were guarded by Deputies in green uniforms.

A second line of inmates was further down the corridor with their faces to the wall, again to make way for a visitor. These inmates wore blue work clothes and were escorted by jail staff dressed in tan uniforms, staff that are generally unknown to outsiders.

The green uniform of the Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy is a familiar sight but jail staff in tan is rarely seen by the public. 

The Lacy staff wearing tan pants and shirts and escorting the inmates dressed in blue are Correctional Services Technicians. 

“The way I look at it, the CST’s provide all the essential work at the facility,” said Senior CST Ray Scruggs. “The Deputies provide the security and run the jail, the CST’s see to it that all the work and upkeep is done satisfactorily. We do all the behind the scenes stuff. We keep this place up and running.”

At Lacy there are 310 Deputies, 35 SSOs and 66 CST’s. Department wide there are about 1,560 Deputies, 396 Sheriff’s Special Officers and 182 CST’s.  Two former CST’s were among the graduates of Basic Academy Class 185 and have been sworn as Deputies.

There are more than 2,800 inmates at Lacy, with a wide range of security levels. There are inmate workers who clean and maintain the facility and sleep in barracks. There are Death Row inmates in the county for new trials who are kept in solitary cells and must be moved only through areas that have been cleared of other inmates. 

It is the inmate workers who provide a role for the CST’s. They supervise the inmate workers. More...