Crowded Jails to Let Many Suspects Go

Sheriff Sherman Block took steps Monday to reduce the population of the overcrowded Los Angeles County jail system by 600 to 700 inmates, ordering that many misdemeanor suspects be simply cited and sent home rather than booked and jailed before trial.

Block said the state’s “three strikes” law--under which defendants are sentenced to long prison terms for committing three felonies--is putting tremendous pressure on the jail system. He said so many felony suspects are awaiting trial that there is less room for misdemeanor suspects.

Of about 500 kinds of misdemeanors, only six will still call for a suspect to be jailed immediately under rules the sheriff announced Monday. They are battery against public officers during performance of duties, spousal rape, inflicting corporal punishment upon a child, domestic violence, violation of domestic-violence orders and stalking.

People suspected of misdemeanor thefts, simple batteries, misdemeanor shoplifting and weapons violations will be among those no longer booked and jailed, Block said in an interview. Under the previous rules--that no one was to be booked for offenses commanding less than $25,000 bail--most drunk-driving suspects have been immediately released for some time.

Some suspects who are cited and released will still go to jail, Block said, if they are found guilty and the courts sentence them.

Block said the new orders have no relation to the county’s current budget crisis. But he declared emphatically that if state leaders want to push ahead with the “three strikes” law, they should “provide the appropriate resources” to pay for higher jail costs.

Block has often said in recent years that he has insufficient funds to keep the jail system fully operating. On Monday, he said he will not have the money to open two new Central Jail towers in Downtown Los Angeles when they are finished.

Although the Sheriff’s Department recently closed two jail facilities to reduce the overall inmate population from 20,000 to 17,000, the number has crept back up, Block said.

“This past weekend, there were more than 19,000 inmates in our jails,” he said. “This means severe overcrowding, more fights between inmates and safety problems for our deputies.”

The new rules should reduce bookings of new jail inmates by 120 to 130 a day, Block said Monday, but he added that more steps may have to be taken to restrict the jail population.