Block Says He’ll Jail Spouse Abusers Longer

Sheriff Sherman Block, moving to head off controversy over the early release of thousands of prisoners, disclosed Thursday that he is nearly tripling the time that spousal abusers spend behind bars and will explore ways of notifying their victims before they are freed.

In a bow by the sheriff to politicians and the public, batterers will now have to spend about 67% of their sentences in jail--three times as much as other Los Angeles County convicts.

The problem is, sheriff’s administrators are still uncertain how they will find the beds to accommodate such a severe change, and the new plan may mean releasing other inmates even earlier, top-ranking department officials conceded.

Block revealed the move at a hearing before the Board of Supervisors on his proposed $1.1-billion department budget, which represents virtually the same level of funding as last year. Before the glare of TV cameras, the sheriff acknowledged that stopgap remedies will not heal the woes of a department that doesn’t have the money to open a brand new jail and is saddled with more than $100 million in capital needs for its deteriorating facilities.

He pointed to the county’s only women’s jail as a major example of how desperate the situation has become. The overburdened and aging Sybil Brand Institute is literally “in danger of sliding down the hill behind it,” Block said, and the county has no idea where it can find the more than $15 million needed to fix it.

Even if the money is found to repair Sybil Brand, that in turn could trigger a host of other problems. The facility’s more than 2,100 female inmates might then have to be temporarily relocated to the now-empty Twin Towers facility, delaying efforts to use Twin Towers for easing congestion at violent men’s complexes and to require inmates to serve longer jail terms.

Officials said attention to the jail issue has intensified this week in the wake of a series in The Times on the jail system’s growing problems, and county politicians sought to capitalize on that spotlight at Thursday’s hearing by offering a bevy of remedies.

Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky and Mike Antonovich offered a joint motion calling for the sheriff to seek bids for the leasing of any of three closed jails--Biscailuz Center, Pitchess Honor Rancho or Mira Loma--to house state or federal prisoners.

The county is in ongoing negotiations to rent out one of the facilities to the state for up to $10 million a year. But Yaroslavsky suggested seeking additional suitors, including private jail operators who might house state inmates or federally detained illegal immigrants, to determine the best deal the county could make.

The purpose of renting one of the three jails--which together housed about 5,000 prisoners--would be to earn money that could be used to help pay for the opening of the high-tech, 4,100-bed Twin Towers facility.

Block, who conceded that leasing a jail would raise only a fraction of the funds needed to operate Twin Towers for a year, said the supervisors’ proposal was nonetheless worth pursuing.

“Fred,” Block said, referring to his budget director Fred Ramirez, “is salivating here at the possibility of getting more money.”

Supervisor Gloria Molina offered her own jail overcrowding motion, calling for creation of a county task force to design a court-supervised drug treatment custody facility. Block applauded the concept, while at the same time acknowledging that no more than 100 of the current 18,000-plus county jail inmates are being held “on pure drug violations.”

Moreover, Block noted, the Biscailuz jail that was closed last year had contained the same type of drug treatment center.

Supervisor Deane Dana, meanwhile, proposed earmarking for Twin Towers any revenues raised if pending state legislation is approved that would return property tax dollars from the state to the county government.

In Sacramento, state Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) announced plans to introduce a nonbinding Senate resolution urging the supervisors to find a private operator for Twin Towers.

“What the county is doing is simply not working,” he said in a prepared statement. “It borders on the absurd.”

Responding to requests from California’s U.S. senators for federal assistance, a high-ranking Justice Department official in Washington said Thursday that the administration would study the Los Angeles jail issue but would probably hold off any decisions until Congress acts.

“Right now I don’t believe that there is authority for us to pay for the running of local jails,” Deputy Atty. Gen. Jamie S. Gorelick said at a press conference.

But “if we can help in that regard, we will,” Gorelick said, adding that “there are limits to the ways in which we can spend our funds. And the needs of the states and localities in this regard are enormous.”

Spousal abusers may end up costing the county even more money.

The issue has proven a particularly hot one since allegations of domestic abuse were televised around the world in the O.J. Simpson trial, and the Sheriff’s Department responded to community concerns last year by making alleged spousal abusers one of only a few types of suspects who cannot be freed on their own recognizance because of jail overcrowding.

Under the plan disclosed Thursday, spousal abusers will also face harsher punishment if convicted, serving the maximum time allowed by state law, Block said. That amounts to about two-thirds of the sentence imposed by the judge, compared to about 23% for everyone else under a uniform release formula that has been in place since August.

Until now, a spousal abuser who received a year’s sentence typically would have done 83 days behind bars; now, he will serve 236 days.

It is believed to be the first time in the history of the jails that a specific type of offense has been singled out for lengthier stays, jail officials said.

“I think the argument is strong enough for that exception, especially after the incident we had,” said custody chief Mark Squiers.

He was referring to a tragedy last month in which a Rowland Heights man served only five days of a 30-day sentence for spousal abuse. Humberto Huelitl, 22, returned home five days after his release and killed his pregnant 16-year-old wife and her 2-year-old cousin before killing himself.

Because of cases like Huelitl’s, the Sheriff’s Department is exploring the feasibility of hiring a private contractor and developing an automated system for notifying victims on the release of spousal abusers. The program could cost up to $500,000 a year.

Block said he is establishing a committee from the judicial and law enforcement communities to study the issue. But he raised a caveat, warning that developing a “special relationship” with victims could expose the county to civil liability if the Sheriff’s Department fails to adequately notify someone of a release.

There are usually about 1,200 suspected and convicted spousal abusers in county jails at any one time, and jail officials said making the inmates serve their full terms will mean the equivalent of housing several hundred extra inmates per night.

Sheriff’s officials said they are still uncertain exactly how they will do this, but it could mean holding everyone else in the jails for less time--perhaps a few days, depending on patterns of convictions and sentencing. Squiers said there is a “better than even” chance that this will happen.

But some law enforcement officials believe that in spousal battery cases, considered largely crimes of power and control, more jail time may prove less of a deterrent than with other types of offenses.

“We don’t know if this [change] is going to have any impact or if these people will go out after 10 days or 20 days or 30 days [in jail] and do the same thing they would have done after two days in jail,” said Undersheriff Jerry L. Harper.

Domestic violence reform advocates, however, say that any increased time should help. “I’m glad they’ll serve their full sentences, even though that isn’t enough time as far as I’m concerned,” said attorney Gloria Allred, who addressed the board Thursday.

Times staff writers Ronald J. Ostrow in Washington and Mark Gladstone in Sacramento contributed to this story.

* SETTLEMENT SUPPORTED: Sheriff’s Department backs $600,000 offer to a prisoner beaten by other inmates. B1

* MONEY SHORTAGE: County officials warn of probation camp closures unless more funds are found. B3