Supervisors OK Major Expansion of Downtown Jail Over Protests

Acting to ease crowding at the nation’s largest detention facility, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a 2,408-bed expansion of the downtown Men’s Central Jail, increasing the capacity to 9,000 prisoners.

The project was approved on a 3-1 vote over the protests of Asian and Latino residents who contend that the neighborhoods from Chinatown to East Los Angeles are already overloaded with existing and proposed jail facilities.

“This is just a little too much for our area to take,” said Vivian Bonzo, president of the Olvera Street Merchants Assn. Opponents of the expansion have vowed to challenge it in court.

The project, which has been in the works since 1983, is the cornerstone of a $600-million expansion of Los Angeles County’s eight-jail system. The system was built for 13,464 prisoners but held 22,500 Tuesday. At Central Jail, prisoners have been forced to sleep in hallways and even the jail chapel.

The Central Jail expansion calls for building a two-story “inmate reception center” flanked by two concrete towers--seven and eight stories--on what is now a parking lot across from the existing jail on Bauchet Street. A jail hospital will be housed in a five-story tower at the rear of the complex.

In addition to the Central Jail expansion, the 2,064-bed North County Correctional Facility is scheduled to open in December in the Santa Clarita Valley, and a 1,000-bed jail is planned for Lynwood.

Sheriff Sherman Block urged supervisors to act swiftly, noting that 145,000 minor offenders have been released early from jail since June, 1988, because of a court order limiting the capacity to 22,000 prisoners. County lockups hold people awaiting trial or sentenced to one year or less behind bars.

“Our deputies are frustrated that people are not serving time in jail,” Undersheriff Robert Edmonds said. Misdemeanor offenders sentenced to less than 37 days in jail do not serve jail time because of the crowding, he said.

Supervisor Ed Edelman, whose district includes the Central Jail, cast the lone vote against the expansion. He pointed out that the county has no way to fund operations of the jail without taking money away from health and welfare programs.

Los Angeles County is lobbying for state legislation that would allow a public vote on raising the sales tax in Los Angeles County by half a cent to raise $400 million a year for jail operations.

“This is too massive for the community,” Edelman protested.

Supervisor Pete Schabarum said to Edelman, “If this project were anywhere else in the county, you’d be one of the leading proponents. But that’s politics.”

Then turning to opponents of the project, Schabarum, who represents the 1st District in the east San Gabriel Valley, asked: “How come I haven’t heard you raise the cry about the fact that the 1st Supervisorial District is responsible for the vast majority of garbage dumps that serve the people of this county, including East Los Angeles?”

Schabarum was joined by Supervisors Mike Antonovich and Deane Dana in supporting the project. Supervisor Kenneth Hahn was absent.

A coalition of Asians and Latinos has fought the jail expansion, claiming that it would hurt business and jeopardize the safety of residents.

During a 90-minute hearing, Sharon Lowe, co-chair of the Latino and Asian Coalition to Improve Our Neighborhoods, told supervisors that adding another jail facility to the downtown area “virtually sentences our communities to County Jail for life.”