State Tries to Move 800 to Relieve County Jails

The state Department of Corrections has begun looking for somewhere else to put 800 state inmates now confined in Los Angeles County jails, in response to a threatened lawsuit by the county Board of Supervisors.

State officials agreed this week to cut the population of state prison inmates from 1,300 to 500 by September. Most of them are housed in downtown’s severely overcrowded Central Jail.

County officials, led by Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, said that state inmates waiting for parole violation hearings have swelled the county’s jail population, which is nearly 8,000 over capacity. The county, meanwhile, is scrambling to meet a Nov. 19 deadline to reduce its jail population by 3,000, as part of a settlement of a suit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Robert Gore, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said his agency is not yet sure where it will put the inmates, but noted that several new state prisons are scheduled to open this year. He said the department also will rely on “emergency overcrowding beds” now being used at several state prisons in storage rooms, gyms and other non-sleeping areas.

Dan Wolf, an aide to Hahn, said the state’s agreement “will really help us” in the effort to reduce the county jail population.

Wolf said the agreement was reached after Hahn wrote to Gov. George Deukmejian, demanding that the state hire 50 parole violation hearing officers to take care of the backlog of prisoners. In a letter to Hahn last week, Deukmejian stated that there was no shortage of hearing officers.

However, Wolf said, the state agreed to negotiate last Friday after the county notified the state that it was ready to file suit.

Gore said state and county officials will meet today to discuss ways of reducing the state inmate population by 800 before September. He characterized the discussions with the county so far as “friendly.”