Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : County Jail Faces Uncertain Fate Amid Budget Problems

Inmates and officers at the county’s Mira Loma jail are sharing a common emotion these days--uncertainty.

The facility could begin closing as early as May 15. Or it may remain open indefinitely.

Sheriff Sherman Block has identified Mira Loma as one of three county jails to be closed as part of an 8% budget cut that the Board of Supervisors said it intends to impose.

The county is looking for additional funds after Block said last week that he could keep the three jails open, and their 7,500 beds available for inmates, for $5 million a month.

As far as the Sheriff’s Department knows, no money has been found, said Paul Myron, chief of the Custody Division.

“Assuming they don’t find money, which they haven’t yet, we’ll begin closing on the 15th,” Myron said.

In anticipation of the possible closure, Mira Loma officials this week shut one of the jail industries, a sewing shop.

The warehouse-like building was emptied of its 90 sewing machines and countless bolts of cloth Monday.

For nearly a decade, male inmates at Mira Loma had been sewing about 5,000 pairs of pants a month for fellow county inmates in the shop.

Sewing will now be done at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic.

No other steps are being taken yet in preparation for the closure of Mira Loma because no one is sure if it will happen.

Inmates said they were unhappy about the closure of the sewing shop and the possible demise of the place they temporarily call home.

“This is a peaceful environment,” said Michael Tobin, who has served time in two other county jails. “Everybody’s learning a trade here.”

“I wish they’d let us stay here,” said Stanley Rogers.

John Crabb, head of operations at Mira Loma, said some of the jail’s 500 female and 350 male inmates will be reassigned. The females will be sent to the Sybil Brand Institute and the males to Pitchess.

Also pegged for closure are portions of Pitchess and the Biscailuz Center in East Los Angeles.