Sheriff Backs Jail Bond Measure as Way to Ease Overcrowding in County Lockups

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block, speaking Friday in support of the $495-million jail construction bond issue on the state’s June 3 ballot, said passage of the measure could enable construction of a 1,000-bed jail and sheriff’s station to relieve pressure on the county’s overcrowded jail system.

At a downtown news conference with Gov. George Deukmejian, who also endorsed the ballot measure, Block estimated that the county’s share from the statewide measure would be about $160 million--regarded by county officials as more than enough to undertake a proposed Lynwood jail project that has been stalled because of county funding shortages.

Block said plans for a new regional criminal justice center call for a sheriff’s station, a courthouse and a holding jail where inmates could be held before arraignment. The center would bring to 4,200 the number of new jail beds being planned or constructed by the Sheriff’s Department, which already has begun expanding facilities at its Mira Loma and Castaic sites, Block said.

20,000 Inmates

The inmate population in the county’s eight-jail system has risen to nearly 20,000, far beyond the 11,824-inmate capacity. The situation led to a lawsuit against the county by the American Civil Liberties Union and an investigation of county jail conditions by the U.S. Justice Department.

“We’re almost 9,000 (inmates) over capacity now,” Block said. Although he refused to name Lynwood as the site of the new facility, county supervisors earlier this year approved a study to determine how best to finance a regional jail facility proposed near that city in southeast Los Angeles County.

Preliminary results of the study suggested that the state bond issue was the most likely way to acquire financing, said Dan Wolf, an aide to Supervisor Kenneth Hahn. The county’s share of the bond issue would be more than enough to finance the project, Wolf said.

Lynwood City Councilman John D. Byork said political leaders in that city have sought the sheriff’s station as a way to provide needed courtrooms and to improve vacant land on the town’s western boundary. Preliminary plans called for the center to house three courtrooms, a 1,000-bed jail and perhaps even FBI and California Highway Patrol facilities, he said.

Annexation Blocked

Earlier this year, Lynwood attempted to annex 80 acres at Imperial Highway and Alameda Street in hopes of taking part in the project, Byork said. But pressure from Assemblywoman Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and residents of the unincorporated area forced the city to abandon the plan.