Plan to Open Twin Towers Endorsed

A sheriff’s plan to open the massive new Twin Towers jail in part with funds provided by leasing other county jail beds to state and federal law enforcement agencies was endorsed Wednesday by Los Angeles County’s new chief administrative officer.

Saying that the plan to ease jail overcrowding appears reasonable and fiscally sound, Chief Administrative Officer David Janssen sent it along to the Board of Supervisors, which is expected to approve it as early as today.

In an interview, Janssen said he and his analysts “are comfortable” with the plan, which was proposed by Sheriff Sherman Block and other county law enforcement officials.

“But the entire proposal hinges on the contract revenue to fund it,” Janssen added. “We are hopeful that we have a commitment from the state and/or the federal government in the near future.”

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Wednesday that he too wants to see those commitments from the state and federal governments, which are considering leasing out enough jail beds to provide the county with $37 million in annual revenues. That leasing plan is a cornerstone of the proposal, which Block helped unveil last month after nearly a year of saying he did not have enough money to open the 4,100-bed Twin Towers.

“I think we’re close,” Yaroslavsky said. “I think we are going to open the Twin Towers, and that we will open them this fiscal year. But this hinges on all of the assumptions coming to pass. I need to make sure the numbers we have are sound and based on solid expectations.”

The sheriff’s chief budget officer, Fred M. Ramirez, said Block has more than enough commitments from various state and federal agencies to make the plan work.

Block has proposed leasing 500 beds at the Mira Loma jail to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, and an additional 900 beds at the Peter J. Pitchess Detention Center to the state Department of Corrections. The U.S. Marshals Service would lease 592 beds at the Men’s Central Jail. Both the INS and the state have expressed interest in the proposal, but had not committed to a contract as of late Wednesday.

“I believe we will have the revenue,” Ramirez said. “There are enough numbers there to do it with.”

If all goes according to plan, preparations to open the jail would escalate immediately in anticipation of a partial opening in January. The rest of the jail would be opened in increments over the next year as inmates are transferred around the system to free enough employees and funds to operate the towers. Block has said he does not know where the money will come from to operate the jail after June 1998.

Even if the board approves the plan, the gleaming $373-million structure on the eastern edge of downtown will not be opened fully, according to details of Block’s proposal made public Wednesday.

The jail’s state-of-the-art medical wing will be dramatically scaled back to save $9.6 million, and there will be fewer employees and other cutbacks at the jail’s inmate reception center, Ramirez said.

In all, the Sheriff’s Department won’t see an additional 4,100 inmate beds as initially planned with the opening of the jail because two facilities would be closed to provide the money to open it, and other space will be leased out.

The county would gain about 1,800 beds, which Block has admitted will not ease enough overcrowding to make a dent in the large numbers of inmates being released after serving only a fraction of their sentences.

The flurry of activity designed to open the jail in recent months followed a series of stories in The Times that highlighted the strains that overcrowding has wrought in what Block calls the largest jail system in the free world.

Now, most inmates are serving less than 25% of their sentences, a smaller percentage than in any other major city nationwide, according to The Times report. The service cutbacks help explain why Block now puts the price tag at opening Twin Towers at $75 million after months of insisting he could not do it for less than $100 million.

Some county officials have grumbled privately that Block could have made such cutbacks much earlier so the jail could be opened. But on Wednesday, they said they are just relieved that they will soon begin the process of opening the jail, if only to help dispense with the public embarrassment of having the facility, which was completed last year, remain closed for so long.

In all, the Block plan proposes saving $11.3 million by using many more civilian custodial assistants in the new jail as opposed to more expensive, sworn deputies.

The plan also calls for using some sales tax revenues from Proposition 172, and several million dollars in savings gained by closing down the Sybil Brand Institute for Women jail while it undergoes repairs and transferring those inmates to Twin Towers.

Savings gained by cutbacks and personnel changes at the new Inmate Reception Center would save $4 million, and changes in staffing for the jail’s food services will save $1.7 million, according to the plan.

Although the medical ward will be considerably scaled back, it will contain an acute care ward, according to Ramirez. Janssen noted that many of those cutbacks will not save money for long.

When the jail is fully operational, it will cost more to run it, perhaps as much as the original $100 million a year, he said.

Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke said the important thing now is to get the jail open in whatever manner possible.

“I don’t know what happens next year, but we’ll at least get through this year and get it open,” said Burke. “We have to open this. And I’m glad to see this starting on a positive note and moving.”

The plan would require the county to contribute at least $14 million in the first year. Janssen, who was directed by the supervisors to evaluate the plan, supported using $8.2 million in state sales tax revenue designated for public safety programs, $3.6 million in state funding for jails, and $2.2 million from deferring repairs costs on the Sybil Brand jail.

The plan also would set aside $2.7 million for a probation program, which would free up 1,324 beds per day by providing housing for offenders released because of overcrowding.