Residents Back Court Complex but Oppose Jail

When some residents of South-Central Los Angeles showed up at a Board of Supervisors meeting last month, they believed that they were providing support for a proposal to build a court complex in their neighborhood.

On Thursday some of those same residents gathered on the steps of City Hall, saying they had no idea the new South Central Justice Center would also include a 2,000-bed jail facility.

Kerman Maddox, spokesman for People for Jobs, Not Jails, said a broad-based coalition of South-Central residents have taken up a petition that will express the “depth of community opposition to the proposed jail.”

‘Trying to Trick Us’

“We support building the courthouse, but no one said anything about the jail. . . . They are trying to trick us,” said Maddox, whose coalition represents block clubs, Neighborhood Watch groups and senior citizen and community activist organizations.

Maddox said the South-Central area is at the center of political maneuvering by officials who want to find a place to build much-needed county jail facilities.

Thursday’s demonstration parallels two recent conflicts between local communities and legislators.

Earlier this week, merchants and residents protested a proposed jail addition to county facilities downtown; in the San Fernando Valley, residents are disputing plans to expand the city-owned Lopez Canyon landfill.

The problems, Maddox maintains, are symptomatic of the way city government is run--undesirable public facilities are forced upon communities that are thought to have the least amount of political influence.

News Accounts Criticized

The demonstrators Thursday also criticized news media accounts of a July 5 supervisors’ meeting during which the board passed a resolution recommending that the state Legislature provide monies for a court complex and jail facility in South-Central.

According to a supervisor’s aide quoted in a Times article about the meeting, “Everybody in the community supports the idea.”

Protesters said they have indeed supported a South-Central court complex that would alleviate the problems of lengthy travel time to downtown courthouses, high parking costs and the difficulty in monitoring the performance of judges and prosecutors.

But the only mention of jail facilities was the temporary detainment area for people awaiting trial, said Hubert Andrew, president of the 8th Avenue Block Club. A holding area, he was told, is required at all court facilities.

“Somebody is trying to sneak this 2,000-bed prison into the South-Central neighborhoods,” Andrew said. “Those who don’t live there are trying to get the monkey off their backs.”

An aide to Assemblywoman Teresa Hughes (D-Los Angeles), author of the Assembly bill that is seeking funds for the proposed justice center, said the only mention of a jail-like facility in the bill’s language was a reference to a temporary holding area.

‘Very Controversial’

“We know that the jail is very controversial, and if it becomes too controversial they will kill the whole justice center project,” Hughes aide Joseph Hew Len said in a telephone interview after Thursday’s protest.

Brad Pye Jr., assistant chief deputy to Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, whose district includes much of the South-Central area, said: “People are begging for facilities to expedite the arrest of people who are terrorizing the community--including jails.

“From walking the streets I know. . . . People just want to hug and kiss us for being concerned.”

Pye said the July supervisors’ meeting provided residents an opportunity to oppose the coupling of the court building with a jail facility.

“Nobody came up to speak,” he said.

‘History of Being Neglected’

“We, as a community, have not met all our responsibilities, but South-Central has had a history of being neglected,” said Byron Jackson, member of the African National Reparation Organization and a Crenshaw-area resident. “What we are saying is we recognize that we have these problems, now we are asking for ways to fix them.”

He suggested that some of the money allocated for building prisons and jails be put into long-term solutions to the area’s problems. He said alternatives to jail spending would include programs for job training, referrals and better school programs, including adult education.

“They are saying they are putting this jail closer to the criminal element,” Jackson said. “The problem with that is not everybody in South-Central Los Angeles is a criminal.”