San Gabriel Valley : Firm Hired to Book, Guard Suspects at Baldwin Park Jail
Some civilians from Texas are going to take over the Baldwin Park city jail and save the city’s taxpayers $50,000.
Starting March 1, Corrections Services Inc., a San Marcos-based company, will book, house and guard prisoners in the 16-bed facility in the basement of the Baldwin Park Police Department, Chief Carmine Lanza said.
The high costs of running and staffing a jail kept the facility closed for 18 years, and suspects apprehended by Baldwin Park police were usually booked and held in Los Angeles County sheriff’s stations. But the sheriff’s booking fees have increased from $104 per person in 1990 to $163 this year, potentially costing the city $171,000 in fees for 1996, Lanza said.
Corrections Services Inc.’s bill is $221,000 annually, but $100,000 should be subsidized by an agreement with state agencies to house at least four work furlough prisoners at the jail. Staffing the jail with city employees would cost an estimated $275,000, Lanza said.
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