Block’s Move to Close Jails Sparks Fight With Molina

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block and Supervisor Gloria Molina engaged in a verbal tug of war over control of the Sheriff’s Department budget Tuesday as Block announced that he will begin taking steps to close three county jail facilities.

After the Board of Supervisors failed to immediately provide him with $5 million to keep the facilities open, Block said he will begin preparations to eliminate 7,500 jail beds--enough to accommodate more than one-third of the county’s jail population--by July 1.

“As I leave here today, my proposals have not been altered,” Block said after Tuesday’s board meeting. “Somebody is going to have to tell me they found the money.”

Supervisors voted unanimously to review the sheriff’s budget and ordered Chief Administrative Officer Harry Hufford to look for additional sources of funding. But the supervisors stopped short of providing Block with the assurances he demanded.

Molina charged that Block was “playing chicken” and attempting to force the board’s hand. She argued for cuts in the department’s administrative budget.

“You play chicken better than anybody I know,” Molina told Block. “You operate that way. You say, ‘Give me the money now or I’m going to do what I’m going to do.’ ”

Block, his face reddening, snapped back: “I am an elected official and I am willing to face the electorate in 1994 based on my actions. . . . I provide public safety and the board has an obligation to fund it.”

Block later told reporters: “It’s not a game of chicken. This is reality.” Underlying the public feud is the fact that Block, as an elected official, controls all aspects of the Sheriff’s Department except its budget, which is determined by the Board of Supervisors.

Under Block’s plan, the jails could be closed by July 1. But the sheriff said a significant number of inmates could be released before June 1 if the board does not come up with more money soon.

However, Molina succeeded in calling Block’s bluff--at least temporarily. He conceded privately after the meeting that it will be at least two weeks before he begins reducing the jail population, by which time the board may come up with the money.

“You never reach a point of no return,” Block said. “You can always adjust the process.”

The jails facing closure are portions of the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic, the Mira Loma facility in the Antelope Valley and the Biscailuz Center in East Los Angeles.

The sheriff has already closed the Hall of Justice Jail in downtown Los Angeles.

Los Angeles County is facing a projected $1.45-billion budget deficit in the 1993-94 fiscal year, which begins July 1. Block and other county department chiefs have been asked to prepare budget proposals with service cuts of 8% and 25%.

Block has said an 8% budget reduction would force him to lay off 340 deputies. Block has said that if he is forced to implement a 25% reduction, he would close nine of 20 patrol stations and eliminate a variety of investigative and undercover operations. Up to 1,700 deputies could be laid off.

Even if he closed just three jail facilities, Block said, the jail system could no longer accept inmates charged with misdemeanors, including such crimes as inciting to riot and carrying a concealed weapon.

Block told the board he will need $5 million to keep the three jails open for one month, until Aug. 1, and an additional $5 million for each month thereafter. If no funds are forthcoming, Block said, he will need two months to begin sending out layoff notices and take other steps necessary to close the jails by July.

All board members said they were sympathetic with Block’s plight.

“Nobody wants to close jails,” board Chairman Ed Edelman said.

The board simultaneously adopted two proposals--a motion by Molina to look for savings in nonessential areas in the Sheriff’s Department budget and a motion by Supervisor Mike Antonovich requesting that the sheriff not begin closing the jails.

“It’s a signal we’re sending that we don’t want jails to close,” Edelman said. “As to where the money will come from, that’s another story.”

Molina suggested that Block was attempting to circumvent the budget process by pressuring the board to give the Sheriff’s Department special treatment. Nearly every county department is facing deep cuts, but the board is not scheduled to begin its budget deliberations until July.

“We have questions as to whether the Sheriff’s Department should come out in the budget process before other departments,” Molina spokesman Robert Alaniz said.

Molina also criticized Block for the department’s decision last year to move into a new administrative headquarters and for buying new furniture for the building.

Block later questioned whether any more administrative cuts would be possible in the 11,000-member department, which includes about 4,000 civilian employees.

“(Bureaucratic) fat is in the eye of the beholder,” he said. “I will be the final judge as to what impact cuts have on my department.”