Uneasy Easing of the Jail Crush

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block expects to release today from the county jails about 600 men and women who are serving time for misdemeanor convictions. The early releases will shave one to three days from the inmates’ sentences. The move is necessary to avoid unacceptable crowding in the jails.

Most of the people in the county jails have not been convicted of anything, but are awaiting trial. The jails are overcrowded because more suspects are being held while awaiting trial, and because court processes are becoming slower their stays are growing longer.

The county jail population numbers more than 22,600 inmates; the system is designed to hold 12,800. Public safety demands that priority be given to suspects awaiting trial on serious charges, along with violent convicts awaiting transfer to state prisons.

The sheriff is under great pressure to reduce the population throughout the system, and specifically at the Men’s Central Jail--the county’s largest facility. The jail count has continued to grow even though the American Civil Liberties Union won a federal court order limiting overcrowding nine years ago. U.S. District Judge William P. Gray is delaying enforcement, at the ACLU’s request, because Los Angeles County has agreed to a plan to reduce overcrowding. The delay is to allow the county plan to work; meanwhile, the chronic overcrowding continues.

The Men’s Central Jail held 7,354 inmates on Tuesday, despite the court-ordered maximum of 6,800. Inmates spent Tuesday night on cots set up in corridors, recreation rooms, the chapel and wherever else there was room. The majority were awaiting their turn in court.

What more is to be done?

The judges and the sheriff have worked out a plan to make the criminal courts move faster. Last year 234,000 people passed through the county jails. Nearly double that number can be processed through the jails if the average inmate stay is cut in half. But, unless the judges speed up the court process, the overcrowding will result in early releases.

From now on the Sheriff’s Department will review the inmate population each Wednesday and Sunday, and make early releases if necessary. It’s a patchwork solution for a jerry-built justice system.