Times’ Series on Jails Wins Award

A Los Angeles Times series detailing public safety risks and poor management within the swollen Los Angeles County jail system has won the American Bar Assn.’s prestigious Silver Gavel Award, the association has announced.

The award, which honors exemplary reporting on the law and the American legal system, was presented this year to seven honorees in five categories. The Times was among two recipients in the newspaper category, the other being the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger.

The Times’ coverage, which was published during the course of a yearlong investigative effort and a successful public records lawsuit, examined the county jail system, which has long been one of the most crowded in the nation.

One set of stories disclosed that inmates in Los Angeles County serve a smaller percentage of their sentences than anywhere in the United States. A second set scrutinized spending practices at the Sheriff’s Department, showing how tens of millions of dollars were being squandered while the department was claiming to be too poor to open new jails.

A third part--the result of a court-ordered release of public documents--revealed that the Sheriff’s Department had routinely released thousands of hardened and habitual criminals back into society through its flawed work release program.

The stories prompted reforms ranging from the accelerated opening of a new jail to a revamping of the work release program. The lead reporters on the team were Eric Lichtblau, Paul Feldman, David Ferrell, Josh Meyer and Ralph Frammolino.