Funding Problems Threaten Jail Debut

On the eve of the official dedication of the massive Twin Towers jail, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department learned Tuesday that state funds desperately needed to pay for the long-delayed lockup are in jeopardy.

Sheriff’s officials also acknowledged that a second deal with federal authorities to lease jail space to pay for the operation of Twin Towers is temporarily on hold because the sheriff’s Mira Loma facility failed to meet federal standards.

While sheriff’s officials made final preparations to toast the opening of the 4,100-bed jail today in the presence of Gov. Pete Wilson, they were engaged Tuesday in a behind-the-scenes scramble to keep the delicate financial scheme to open the eight-story facility from turning into a fiscal house of cards.

“I’m still optimistic,” said Undersheriff Jerry Harper, who rushed to a Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday morning to reassure board members that everything was under control.

However, the jail, which had remained closed for 16 months because of county budget problems, remains in jeopardy.

In Sacramento on Tuesday, state Sen. Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), who heads the state Joint Legislative Budget Committee, declined to approve a contract that would have provided $137 million over five years to help operate Twin Towers. The agreement had called for the state to lease 1,400 beds for state parole violators at the Peter J. Pitchess complex near Santa Clarita. The county now must plead its case before the full committee and possibly the Legislature in coming weeks.

A second source of revenue, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, also has balked. The INS was scheduled to pay the county $6.3 million a year to house 500 prisoners in the now-closed Mira Loma jail in Lancaster, beginning this week. But INS officials have informed the Sheriff’s Department that the facility does not meet U.S. standards and must be upgraded.

In addition to the fiscal problems, sheriff’s officials must deal with employee discontent.

Sheriff’s deputies, who have grown weary of long delays in contract negotiations, were laying plans for a possible dedication day protest. With morale plummeting, deputies were set to rally at the Twin Towers ceremony, in which state Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren and members of the Board of Supervisors are scheduled to join the governor and Sheriff Sherman Block.

Deputies have been working without a contract since 1994.

Undersheriff Harper emphasized Tuesday that he believed that the state legislators will ultimately agree to lease the jail space. Harper said he was hopeful that a hearing could be set on the matter before March 1, when the state parole violators were set to be moved into the Pitchess facility.

Construction on Twin Towers was completed in October 1995, thanks to tens of millions of dollars raised through taxpayer-backed bonds. But the lockup remained closed for months because the sheriff could not come up with the $100 million a year needed to operate the jail.

Several months ago, however, the Sheriff’s Department came up with a new plan that involved leasing about 1,900 beds at Mira Loma and Pitchess to state and federal law enforcement agencies. The move was expected to generate about $37 million annually to help offset Twin Towers’ operating expenses--more recently estimated at about $75 million per year.

But the lease agreements hit snags.

Some state officials now question whether they need the beds or whether a deal with Los Angeles County would make financial sense.

In a letter Tuesday, Thompson said, “It is not clear that the [state] needs to acquire any jail beds during the current year.”

Harper, however, said that other state officials disagree and that bed space is needed in the southern part of the state.

“Our talks with them, as recently as this morning, [indicate] that they’re overcrowded at Chino [state prison],” Harper said.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich also expressed confidence, saying that, “My commitment is to ensure that the [as yet unsigned] lease agreements are carried out.”

Harper also acknowledged that problems have arisen over the federal government’s leasing of beds at the sheriff’s Mira Loma jail facility.

When federal officials inspected the facility in October, they were not pleased with conditions there, or with its lack of a certificate of occupancy, said Harper and Sharon Bunn, the sheriff’s assistant director for administrative services.

But Harper said, “Mira Loma is in fine shape.” He said he hopes to have the facility open by Feb. 18. Until then, the INS will not pay.

On Jan. 25, nearly 200 maximum-security inmates were shuffled into the gleaming, new $373-million high-rise Twin Towers for a four-month test run. The jail is expected to be fully operational in June, if funding does not cease.

Many of the problems at Mira Loma result from the removal of fire extinguishers, beds and other items needed for the housing of prisoners when the jail was closed years ago. Those items had not been replaced by the time of the federal inspection, but the facility is now ready to accept the prisoners, Bunn said.

Bunn said a team of federal inspectors is at the jail this week for further inspection.

“They just want to see what we’ve done to turn it from a closed facility to an open one,” Bunn said.