Budget Cuts Prompt Early Prisoner Release : Finances: Sheriff’s Dept. says 3,000 inmates will be let go, starting today, because two jails will have to close. Some county officials react angrily to announcement.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday that 200 to 300 prisoners a day will be freed early starting today because budget cuts are forcing it to close two jails.

The department said the early releases will continue until 3,000 convicted inmates have been let go.

Sheriff Sherman Block, who could not be reached for comment Thursday night, repeatedly has threatened to make such releases during budget skirmishes with the County Board of Supervisors. But in the recent past, the department has released only a small group of women prisoners for budget reasons.

The first releases this time were to be all men, the department said. “It’s going to start right after midnight,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Ron Spear said Thursday night.

The inmates in question were serving sentences for misdemeanors and “low-grade” felonies, such as drunk driving and burglary, the department said.

The inmates will be released between now and March 15, when the ranch facility at the Peter J. Pitchess Honor Rancho in Castaic and the Biscailuz Center in East Los Angeles will have to close, “consistent with the direction of the Board of Supervisors to reduce the sheriff’s budget,” the department said in a news release.

Even without such releases, prisoners do not usually serve their full terms. Because of overcrowding in the jails, inmates typically have been freed after serving 60% of their sentences.

The announcement caught many off guard and infuriated some, who have seen Block take similar steps toward closing jails in past years when his department’s budget was threatened. But if the department does set free 3,000 inmates, the current releases would be unprecedented, they said.

Press Deputy Michael Bustamante said Supervisor Gloria Molina’s office was “blindsided” by the news.

“This is totally disgraceful,” he said. “We had no warning whatsoever.”

The supervisors apparently have no authority to reverse Block’s decision, Bustamante added.

“Unfortunately, we can’t tell the sheriff how to spend his money,” he said. “But when you consider that he spends a quarter of his budget on administration costs, it seems he could find other alternatives.”

Bustamante said he did not know if the board will reconsider the Sheriff’s Department cuts because of the releases.

Supervisor Deane Dana said he was not surprised at Block’s decision to release the inmates.

“We’ve all been struggling down at the board since we found out the financial bind we were in,” Dana said. “We are facing a (huge) shortfall.”

Likewise, Lori Howard, justice deputy to Supervisor Michael Antonovich, said she was not surprised by the department’s move. “This time there really wasn’t a choice,” she said.

Supervisors, needing to trim $600 million from the county’s $14.5-billion budget, voted Tuesday to cut $7.3 million from the Sheriff’s Department. In addition, the department foresees a $28-million cut during the 1995-96 fiscal year, officials have said.

The department receives about $570 million of its $1.1-billion annual budget from the county, with most of the remainder coming from cities that contract for sheriff’s services and from the federal government.

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Block threatened county supervisors at their Feb. 23 meeting that severe cuts would force layoffs and jail closures.

In April, 1993, Block announced that he would close four jails and release 5,000 inmates because of a proposed $152-million cut to his budget. In May, 1993, he outraged county supervisors by closing the Mira Loma jail in Lancaster for three days and busing the 206 inmates to other facilities.

Block reopened the jail when the county provided interim funding through July, and promised not to sue him for his actions.

But the jail was closed permanently in August, 1993, when $25.5 million was cut from his budget. Of the 700 inmates at the prison when it closed, 160 women prisoners were released early and the others were transferred to other county jails.

Spear and county officials said Thursday they did not know of any other incidents in which large numbers of inmates were granted early releases because of budget cuts.

The inmates to be released today were to be taken to the department’s inmate reception center in Downtown Los Angeles to be “processed out” of the jail system, Spear said. The center operates 24 hours a day, and the inmates were to be set free along with the 400 to 500 prisoners normally released each day. Times staff writer Lisa Respers contributed to this story.