Sheriff Says He’ll Free 3,000 Inmates Early

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced Thursday it will free 200 to 300 prisoners a day, starting before dawn today, blaming budget cuts Sheriff Sherman Block says are forcing him to close two jails.

Block, who has repeatedly threatened to make such early releases in the past during budget skirmishes with the county Board of Supervisors, said the releases would continue until he had set free 3,000 inmates already convicted and serving jail sentences.

A county supervisor’s office was surprised by the abrupt announcement from the Sheriff’s Department, which in the past has released only a small group of women prisoners for budget reasons.

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

The inmates being released have been serving sentences for misdemeanors and “low-grade” felonies, such as drunk driving and burglary, sheriff’s officials 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 Sheriff’s Department said.

Even without the releases, prisoners do not usually serve their full terms. Because of overcrowding in the jails, inmates for several years typically have been freed after serving 60% of their sentences. Block’s announcement caught many off-guard and infuriated some who have seen the sheriff take similar steps toward closing jails in past years when his department’s budget was threatened, although never on the scale announced Thursday.

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

“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 doesn’t know whether the board will reconsider the cuts because of Block’s actions, but “I think it’s going to make his argument much more difficult.”

Supervisor Deane Dana said Block was acting before the board had even made a firm decision on the budget cuts.

“He’s certainly not doing it because of budget reasons,” Dana said. “We’re not making any cuts yet.”

Dana said he was not surprised, however, at Block’s move.

“We’ve all been struggling down at the board since we found out the financial bind we were in,” he said. “We are facing a million-dollar shortfall.”

Block could not be reached for comment.

Sheriff’s officials said Thursday they did not know when Block had decided to start releasing inmates. But Lori Howard, justice deputy to Supervisor Mike Antonovich, said she was not surprised by Block’s move.

“This time there really wasn’t a choice because this was a mid-year adjustment,” she said.

County supervisors, needing to trim $600 million from the county’s current $14.5-billion budget, voted Tuesday to cut $7.3 million from the Sheriff’s Department. In addition, the department faces a $28-million cut during the 1995-96 fiscal year.

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

Block told county supervisors at their Feb. 23 meeting that severe cuts would force layoffs and jail closures. He has been successful for the past three years in fending off the most severe cuts imposed by the county, often by taking initial steps toward jail closures.

In April, 1993, for example, Block announced he would close four jails and release 5,000 inmates starting May 3 because of a proposed $152 million cut to his budget. That May, 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 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 evening they did not know of any other incidents in which inmates were granted early releases due to budget cuts.

The inmates to be released would be taken to the department’s inmate reception center in Downtown Los Angeles, which processes prisoners into and out of the jail system, Spear said. The center operates 24 hours a day and the inmates will be mingled and set free with the 400 to 500 prisoners normally released each day, he said.

Times staff writer Lisa Respers contributed to this story.