Block Details Deep Cuts for Department : Budget: Sheriff scales back previous estimation, but says 4,000 inmates would still have to be released early. He softens stance on deputy layoffs.

Proposed budget cuts would force a phased release of nearly 4,000 of the county’s 21,500 jail inmates by April 1, cutting average sentences by two-thirds, Sheriff Sherman Block told county supervisors Monday in a sharply worded letter.

But Block’s letter, coming one day before supervisors are scheduled to hold hearings on the budget, was less ominous than warnings he issued last month. The sheriff also appeared to soften his stance on the need to lay off 500 of his department’s 8,000 deputies.

While saying that cutting another $47.9 million from his budget--on top of $66.5 million taken out already--would “devastate our department and clearly impact community safety countywide,” Block said he now plans to determine the number of layoffs in April.

The decision, he said, would come after evaluating “staffing overages” resulting from the prisoner release. And he held out the possibility of reducing layoffs by expanding the department’s early retirement program, although he said that would require significant short-term costs.

The strategy voiced by the sheriff is to minimize cutbacks in patrols and other direct anti-crime enforcement by reducing staffing and expenditures at the jails. At a news conference Aug. 26, he had spoken of releasing 5,000 prisoners, but in Monday’s letter he talked of releasing 1,000 fewer.

The letter was more detailed than Block had been last month about the consequences of the proposed cuts. For instance, he named five sheriff’s stations that would be closed to the public, one that would be downsized and one that would be closed altogether.

He also said only the more serious and violent offenders or people with warrants totaling $10,000 or more would be admitted to county jails. Others would simply be released and issued a citation for a court appearance, he said.

Under the plan, the Malibu station would be closed, the Lomita station downgraded to satellite status and public access eliminated at stations in Pico Rivera, Altadena, Firestone, Marina del Rey and San Dimas. Citizens would be rerouted to less convenient regional offices.

Cuts in aero-rescue services that were announced in May and later rescinded would be reinstituted, with “critical” public safety impact, the sheriff said.

The department’s LIFE Nutrition program, which provides low-cost meals to senior citizens, would be stopped and vocational and rehabilitation programs eliminated at the jails, he said.

There would be minor cutbacks in court services and security and reductions in weapons training, replacement of vehicles, furniture and uniforms. There would also be cuts in usage of cellular phones and newspaper subscriptions, and curtailment of many fiscal and administrative services to employees, he said.