Supervisors Act on Plans to Cut Jail Crowding

With an eye on a Nov. 19 deadline for reducing jail overcrowding, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday moved to buy a warehouse as well as build other facilities that together could eventually house more than 1,000 inmates.

The board ordered county officials to begin negotiating for a 40,000-square-foot warehouse across Bauchet Street from the Central Jail and to move swiftly to build four prefabricated jail facilities at Pitchess Honor Ranch near Castaic.

The board’s move was in response to an out-of-court settlement between the county and the American Civil Liberties Union in which the county agreed to reduce the inmate population at the men’s Central Jail by Nov. 19. Under the agreement, signed by U.S. District Judge William Gray, the Central Jail population is to be reduced by more than 3,000 to a maximum of 5,800 prisoners.

$1.6-Million Price

The industrial warehouse across the street from the Central Jail is now on the market for $1.6 million. Sheriff Sherman Block said the concrete structure is ideal because it could be modified at minimal cost and would not require certain environmental impact studies because of its proximity to the existing jail.

In the same action, the board approved plans to build four dormitory-style inmate facilities at Pitchess Honor Ranch for about $13.2 million. The buildings, patterned after prefabricated structures used in Santa Clara County, could be built in about a year and house nearly 800 medium-security prisoners, Block said.