$672-million project to build jails is proposed
An ambitious $672-million plan to be presented to supervisors next week would reorganize Los Angeles County jails and ultimately shut down the Men’s Central Jail, long a symbol of inmate violence and overcrowding in the nation’s largest jail system.
“This is far-reaching,” said Sheriff Lee Baca. “I have been wrestling with this problem for the past 10 years. This is the time to be making the big change.”
The proposal is a massive revision to the $258-million plan approved in 2006, when supervisors chose the least far-reaching of six overcrowding-relief proposals to avoid raising taxes. This more expensive approach, county officials say, can be achieved with a combination of already-budgeted funds and borrowing. No new taxes would be needed, they said.
The proposal calls for building a $330-million facility at the Mira Loma Detention Center in Lancaster and a $152-million wing at the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic that would include an expanded kitchen and clinic. A new $156-million jail to house female inmates would replace existing structures at the now-closed Sybil Brand Institute near East Los Angeles.
In all, the expansion would add 1,146 beds to a beleaguered jail system by 2012 while eventually closing the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.
Supervisors are scheduled to discuss the plan, drawn up by Baca and county Chief Executive Officer William Fujioka, on Tuesday.
“Men’s Central Jail should have been closed years ago,” said Melinda Bird, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union. “The conditions there are inhumane for inmates and deputies alike.”
The 15-page report details a phased approach to relieve the 6,800-bed downtown jail by transferring inmates to other facilities and shutting down the older half of Men’s Central, built in 1963. About $19 million would be used to upgrade the newer half, built a decade later, although it eventually could be closed as well.
“There’s no question that jails only have a certain life in terms of their effectiveness,” Baca said. “There are certain jails, especially the Central Jail, who have lived their lives.”
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