Judge Approves New Report for East L.A. Prison

A Los Angeles judge Monday approved a supplemental environmental impact report for a proposed 1,450-bed prison near downtown, but Eastside activists promised to appeal this latest setback in their six-year fight to stop the project.

Superior Court Judge John Zebrowski ruled that the state Department of Corrections had adequately addressed the inmate overcrowding issue in the supplemental report, which he ordered last year when the first report said overcrowding was expected to reach 190% of capacity.

Opponents, who argue that the Eastside already has five penal institutions, sued the state over the first report, contending that overcrowding could reach 241% of capacity, or about 2,000 additional inmates.

In the supplemental report, which was certified by a special environmental panel last month, state officials said there was ample evidence to suggest that a “worse-case” capacity would only reach 201%, or slightly more than twice the designed capacity.

The judge agreed and ruled the report acceptable.

“(Opponents) argue that the test now to be applied is whether a ‘fair argument’ can be made that overcrowding might exceed the 201% maximum found reasonably foreseeable in the supplemental EIR,” Zebrowski wrote. “The court concludes that this is not a correct formulation of the test.”

Although they have been unable to persuade state environmental officials or Zebrowski to halt the $139-million project, Eastside activists vowed to appeal the judge’s ruling.

“It’s going to be a long time before they put this prison in Los Angeles,” said landscape architect Frank Villalobos, a spokesman for a coalition of East Los Angeles groups fighting the prison.

“We’ll never give up,” said Juana Gutierrez, a leader with the Mothers of East L.A.

Former Gov. George Deukmejian proposed the prison for a 20-acre industrial site southeast of downtown, near 12th Street and Santa Fe Avenue, saying that Los Angeles County contributes about 40% of the state’s inmate population, but has no state prison.

To mollify critics in the Legislature, Deukmejian supported a Senate bill authorizing construction of two prisons in the county, one near downtown Los Angeles and the other in rural Lancaster. The bill was swiftly approved but both projects were opposed by area residents.

The Lancaster prison, under construction, may be ready for occupancy by mid-1992.

State officials concede that it may be several years before the Los Angeles facility becomes a reality.